ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online ...ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online)...

Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter 157 Winter 2019

ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online)

Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)

NEWSLETTER 157 Winter 2019

See our website for the pdf


Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.)

NEWSLETTER 157 Winter 2019

PO Box 6523, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Zealand

Please forward contributions to Bob McDavitt,

[email protected]

CONTENTS Page

Foreword from our President 3

Photo Competition, Annual Conference 4

Next Journal 5

Around the Regions 5-6

Autumn: NIWA review 7-9

Notable events 10-13

Christchurch, Ben Tichborne 14

Pick of the clips 14-38

Your Committee

President: Michael Martens Immediate Past President: Sylvia Nichol Secretary: Katrina Richards Treasurer: Gregor Macara Circulation Manager: Lisa Murray Website Liaison: Stefanie Kremser Journal Editor: Nava Fedaeff Newsletter Editor: Bob McDavitt Auckland VP: Petra Pearce Wellington VP: [vacant] Christchurch VP: Jiawei Zhang Dunedin VP: Daniel Kingston Hamilton VP: Tim Gunn General Committee: Luke Sutherland-Stacey, Mike Revell HydroSoc Liaison: Charles Pearson Views and endorsements expressed in this newsletter are those of the

contributors and advertisers, and not necessarily those of the

Meteorological Society of New Zealand.

The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they

are endorsed or recommended by the Society.


From Your President : Dear members and whanau Another few months have passed since our last newsletter and we find ourselves in the middle of winter, with the first frosty nights and the first snowfall for the mountains and ski fields. The weather has been active during the last few weeks, but we are getting some respite with a strong ridge of high pres-sure spreading over most of the country for the next few

days (late June). This brings sunshine and clear skies for most but also wide-spread frosts for sheltered inland places. Helping forecasting agencies predict the weather are mathematical models of the atmosphere. These models calculate the future state of the atmosphere by integrating physical equations into the future. The 3 best models (on average) of these computer models are the GFS (Global Forecast System) from the American Weather Service, the UM (Unified Model) from the UK Met Office and the IFS (Integrated Forecast System) from the Europe-an Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) agency. Two of these three global atmospheric models (the GFS and IFS) have just been upgraded in June, including the data assimilation systems that feed into them. This will lead to better forecast skill for most areas on the globe and should also further improve weather fore-casts for New Zealand. In other news, preparations for our annual conference in November are progress-ing well. The annual conference will be held in Wellington from 25.11. to 27.11. We have signed the agreement with Victoria University for the conference venue and will soon be able to secure a venue for the conference dinner. You are still able to express your interest until 31.07.2019 online. Please find all information and a link to the first circular of the conference here: https://www.metsoc.org.nz/metsoc-conference/ The memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) is nearing completion and we have sent a fi-nal copy over to AMOS. Both societies should be ready to sign the memorandum in July. The MoU will be beneficial to members of both societies, make collaboration between our science communities easier and help further earth system sciences in the Australasia region. Finally, our work to support members and young career scientists by acknowledg-ing outstanding scientists on a more regular basis is progressing well and we hope to discuss and finalise ideas at our next committee meeting in July. Ngā mana akitanga, Michael Martens President of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand Wellington June 2019


Go to https://1.shortstack.com/PlLBj9 to enter/vote

Meteorological Society of New Zealand -- Annual Conference Monday 25 – Wednesday 27 November 2019 Victoria University of Wellington First circular and call for Expressions of Interest We are pleased to announce that the Meteorological Society of New Zealand’s an-nual conference will be held in Wellington at Victoria University. The conference will cover all aspects of climatology and meteorology, from observations, numer-ical predictions to research and climate projections. The Society invites contri-butions on any topic associated with meteorology and climate. These include (but are not limited to) the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, ocean atmosphere interactions and physical oceanography, remote sensing, at-mospheric chemistry, urban meteorology, air pollution, hydrological applica-tions, agricultural and bio-meteorology, weather and climate hazards and im-pacts, including global change, and the history of New Zealand meteorology and oceanography. There will be three presentation options:1. Poster presentations, with an associ-ated one-minute introduction.2. Standard oral presentations, of 20-minute dura-tion, including Q/A.3. Short, Pecha-Kucha type oral presentations, with ques-tions for all speakers at the end of the session. The number of oral presentations will be limited. In addition, we will have a number of invited speakers giving key-note presentations at the beginning of each day. Please complete the Google Form to indicate your expressions of interest, including your preferred style of presentation, by 31 July 2019. Please direct any questions about the conference to Sylvia Nichol, [email protected]. A small registration fee for the confer-ence will be set in August. The conference programme, including the conference dinner and the Society AGM, will be released in October.


Weather & Climate Volume 39 Submissions still open! Dear members, We are still welcoming submissions for Volume 39 of the journal which is scheduled to be re-leased in 2019. Contributions to Weather and Climate can be on any meteorological or climatological subject, but preference will be given to contributions related to New Zealand and/or the Southwest Pacific. Authors are requested to write in a style similar to that followed by Weather and Cli-mate. For full information and guidelines please visit the MetSoc website. Please note that submis-sions are open to everyone, not just society members, so please encourage any students or colleagues to contribute. The cut-off for submissions is 1st August 2019 Submissions can be made at https://weather-and-climate.scholasticahq.com/ and any relat-ed questions can be emailed to the editor, [email protected] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Meeting invites to MetSoc members during Autumn-=-=-=-=-=-= 4 March: Dunedin: “The Effects of Global Warming on the coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Hy-drothermohaline Circulation” 13 March: Wellington: Professor Susan Cutter ( Uni South Carolina) “Compound, Cascading or Complex Disasters: Are these the new normal?” Any disruptive event has the potential for generating predictable and unpredictable outcomes. At what point do these disruptive events escalate from something anticipated, prepared for, and seemingly manageable into more complex and connected multiple events that take us com-pletely by surprise? 14 March : Wellington: Fresh Off the Ice Antarctic Summer Reports 2018-19 There will be four talks from last season’s Antarctic research: Dr Natalie Robinson, NIWA – Mysteries beneath the Ross Ice Shelf Dr Tim Stern, VUW – Gravity measurements in the Dry Valleys Dr Richard O’Driscoll, NIWA – Monitoring the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area JOIDES Resolution – Latest from IODP 379 – Amundsen Sea 22 March: Wellington: Leading the world to Net Zero The opportunities and challenges of New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Act New Zealand's Zero Carbon Act could make it one of the first advanced economies in the world to commit itself to net zero emissions — and the first with such a large agricultural sector. In this talk, Myles Allen will argue that the simplest way of designing fairness and transparency into the Zero Carbon Act is to focus on the long-term temperature goal set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Get this right, and New Zealand could show the way for many larger countries who have yet to think seriously about bringing extractive industries and ag-ricultural emissions into climate policy. Treating all sectors fairly means all sectors pulling together. He waka eke noa


8 Ap ril : Wellington: Climate change: The science and how it's communicated Presented by Professor James Renwick This seminar will give an overview of the science of how the climate is changing, the impacts in terms of extreme events and human welfare, and what is required to stop climate change. It will also touch on the debate over how the problem is presented; is it better to be an ‘alarmist’, a ‘realist’, or an ‘optimist’? Speaker Bio: Professor Renwick is the head of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences. He has nearly four decades' experience in weather and climate research, and was awarded the 2018 Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize. 10 April: Wellington: Weather forecasting in a time of Climate Change A talk by Pierre Foucaud & Gregoire Pigeon This is hosted by Cafe Scientifique from the Alliance Francaise, in association with France Ao-tearoa Science, Technology and Innovation (FAST) and the Embassy of France in New Zea-land. All welcome - in English - some French may occur! 17 April: Wellington: Sensors and Citizen Science Alena Bartoňová (Director, Norwegian Institute for Air Research), Guy Coulson(NIWA) Low(er)-cost sensor systems for monitoring air quality are increasingly available to groups in the wider public who want action to address the ubiquitous air pollution affecting their lives.. In Europe in the last decade, many researchers have studied all aspects related to air quality sensors. One of the first large pan-European research projects CITI-SENSE(2012-2016) pro-vided much needed knowledge on possible applications and has enabled organisations such as municipalities in Norway to start building sensor networks (the iFLINK project 2018-2021). Alena will share some of the last ten years’ developments and the newest understand-ings. 18 April, Rutherford House, Wellington: Sea Level Rise & New Zealand’s Future Dr Kristofer Döös, Professor, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University. How much land will we lose to the rising ocean, and what will it cost us? Local Government New Zealand has recently released its report, Vulnerable: The study details the type, the quanti-ty and the replacement value of infrastructure exposed with different levels of rise severity, from half a meter to three metres. LGNZ’s report is intended to result in stakeholders working together to ensure the long-term resilience of critical infrastructure. At its core, this analysis is about turning a challenge into an opportunity. 27 May Dunedin: Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Application in Climate Re-search .Professor Justus Notholt, Institute of Environmental Physics at University of Bremen 29 May Dunedin: Indigenous knowledge and climate change Dr Lyn Carter (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha, Te Rapuwai), University of Otago Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific & Indigenous Studies -=-=--=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--= -==-=--==- =- -= -= =- -


Autumn 2019 by NIWA • The highest temperature was 32.4°C observed in Waipara West on 5 March. • The lowest temperature was -6.0°C, observed at Ranfurly on 7 April. • The highest 1-day rainfall was 401 mm, recorded at Milford Sound on 25 March. • The highest wind gust was 196 km/h, observed at Cape Turnagain on 15 May. Temperature It was New Zealand’s 4th -warmest autumn on record. Temperatures across the country were mostly above average (+0.51°C to +1.20°C of the autumn average) or well above aver-age (>1.20°C of the autumn average) while few locations experienced temperatures which were near average (-0.50° to +0.50°C of the autumn average). Rainfall Rainfall totals over much of the North Island were below normal (50-79% of the autumn normal) with isolated pockets of well below normal (120% of the autumn normal), including West Coast, much of Southland, western parts of Canterbury and Otago, as well as Nelson and northern Marlborough. Remaining parts of the South Island were largely near average with pockets of below average rainfall occurring throughout. Soil moisture. By the end of autumn 2019, soils were drier than normal for much of the North Island with small areas of wetter than normal soils about western Waitomo and the Kapiti Coast. South Island soil moisture was generally near normal with pockets of below normal soil moisture about Waimate and Waitaki as well as interior Marlborough region Overview Autumn 2019 was characterised by higher than normal mean sea level pressure over and to the east of New Zealand, resulting in more northerly winds than normal across the country. This, in combination with warmer than average sea surface temperatures around New Zea-land coastlines resulted in autumn temperatures which were above (+0.51°C to +1.20°C of the autumn average) or well above average (>1.20°C of the autumn average) for the time of year over most of the country. The nationwide average temperature for autumn 2019 was 14.4°C (1.17°C above the 1981-2010 average from NIWA’s seven station temperature series which begins in 1909) making it the 4th warmest autumn on record in New Zealand, and on-ly 0.02°C cooler than the autumn of 1999, the 3 rd -warmest autumn on record. Autumn 2019 got off to a warm start during March with above to well above average temper-atures experienced across the country. This was the equal 2nd -warmest March on record and many locations observed record or near-record warm mean, mean maximum or mean minimum temperatures during this time. The warmest autumn temperature of 32.4°C was recorded in Waipara West on 5 March. Temperatures during April were largely near average (-0.50° to +0.50°C of average) for the time of year and the lowest autumn temperature of -6.0°C was observed at Ranfurly on 7 April. The season ended on a warm note with New Zea-land experiencing its 3rd - warmest May on record. Many locations also observed record or near-record warm mean, mean maximum or mean minimum temperatures during this month. In terms of rainfall, much of the North Island experienced below normal (50-79% of normal) or well below normal (149% of normal). Parts of the West Coast and western Canterbury through to western Otago observed well above normal totals for all three months of autumn. Extremely heavy rainfall occurred in the western South Island between 25-27 March result-ing in flooding, the collapse of the Waiho Bridge near Franz Josef, and the declaration of a State of Emergency in Westland. The highest 1-day rainfall was 401 mm, recorded at Milford


Sound on 25 March. Rain, slips and dryness Severe meteorological drought was present across the upper South Island to start the au-tumn season. 3 March, according to the New Zealand Drought Index, Nelson tied for the 2nd most severe meteorological drought in the past 12 years, and the Tasman District had its 3rd most severe drought. 8 March Whanganui observed 23.6 mm of rain in an hour, making it the wettest March hour on record there (data since 1995). 25-27 March: Extremely heavy rainfall occurred in the western South Island. The weather event was a mix of an ‘atmospheric river’ extending from Australian cyclones coupled with extra energy from the Tasman Sea marine heatwave, as well as a strong low-pressure system siphoning moisture toward New Zealand. Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow corridors in the atmosphere that transport most of the water vapour outside of the tropics. According to the American Meteorological Society, integrated vapour transport (from Earth’s surface to about 9000 m) must be at least 250 kg/m/s along the periphery of the moisture plume to be considered an atmospheric riv-er. The impacts of this event are listed below: - 26 March, a state of emergency was declared in Westland as torrential rainfall and strong winds battered the region and caused evacuations, power outages and road closures. The Waiho River bridge on State Highway 6, the link between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, was claimed by raging floodwaters. Haast River at Roaring Billy recorded a water level of 7.423 m, the 2nd highest water level at the station since 1969 (highest 7.580 m in 1978). – 27 March, a 66 year-old woman was found deceased in flood waters in the Arahura Valley, north of Hokitika, just after 9 am. Acting area commander Senior Sergeant Peter Payne said it appeared the woman got out of the vehicle she was driving and tried to cross the flood wa-ters on foot. – 25 March – 27 March, a New Zealand 48-hour rainfall record was set at the Hokitika catch-ment of the Cropp River which recorded 1086mm, or more than a metre of rain. That beat the previous New Zealand two-day record, also from Cropp River in December 1995, by about 40mm. 10 April, heavy rain caused the temporary closure of SH6 between Makarora and Haast due to a washout at Diana Falls. The heavy rainfall delayed efforts to repair the Waiho River bridge (near Franz Josef), which had been damaged by flooding in March. 29 April, heavy rain hit Christchurch and the Canterbury region. There were widespread re-ports of surface flooding in Christchurch city, with 27 streets affected. Heavy rain was thought to have 3 triggered a slip on SH73 between Otira and Kumara Junction, forcing the temporary closure of one lane in the area. 12-13 May, a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea brought rain and strong winds to west-ern and lower South Island and central and upper North Island and caused power outages, fallen trees and road closures. 16 May, Quertier Road, in Kaiwera, closed due to flooding on the Kaiwera Bridge. 30 May, rain flooded parts of State Highway 6 which caused Westland District Council to acti-vate its Emergency Operations Centre to monitor the situation. The Buller River reached its alarm point of 8.4m at Te Kuha (village east of Westport) forcing State Highway 6 at Inangahua Junction to close. Temperatures 26-27 March: Overnight clouds and high humidity associated with an ‘atmospheric river’ contributed to several record or near-record daily minimum air temperatures in eastern ar-eas.


7 April, clear skies over inland parts of the South Island contributed to widespread frosty con-ditions. Ranfurly dropped to -6.0°C; New Zealand’s lowest temperature for 2019 so far (excluding remote high elevation locations). Wind 29 April, strong winds in eastern parts of Canterbury caused damage to the power network, especially about Banks Peninsula. Approximately 4000 homes were without power for a time. Farther north, a tornado was reported on Lower Weld Road, south of Oakura (Taranaki), causing considerable damage to farm property there. 15 May, flights were delayed out of Invercargill Airport and shipping containers were blown into Bluff Harbour as strong winds battered the region 15-16 May, strong winds caused power outages throughout Southland and Otago. Three net-works were affected: Invercargill Electricity, The Power Company and OtagoNet. 29 May, strong winds in Hokitika blew a piece of roofing iron into powerlines knocking them down. Strong winds caused damage to three power poles in Ōhakea, cutting power to 250 properties, including Ōhakea Air Force Base. 30 May, Wellington Airport cancelled and delayed several flights due to strong winds. Wel-lington had 5 consecutive hours with wind gust over 100 km/h, reaching a max gust of 121 km/h. Wellington’s East by West ferries cancelled sailings between Days Bay and Queens Wharf with shuttles being brought in as replacement transport. Snow and ice 7 April, Mt Taranaki reportedly received its first snowfall of the year. On May 16, snow flurries were observed on Dunedin hill suburbs. The snow was the first near an urban area this year. 31 May, snow fell in parts of the South Island. The Remarkables ski area received 5 cm over-night and Coronet Peak 6 cm. the Milford Road was temporarily closed due to snow clearing operations. Lightning and hail 7 April, more than 500 lightning strikes were recorded over the central North Island. Motor-ists were warned to be cautious of extremely slippery road conditions due to heavy hail be-tween Turangi and Tokoroa, and Taupo and Rotorua. 8 April, approximately 1000 lightning strikes were recorded in the Bay of Plenty region. 14 May, two houses were struck by lightning in Waianiwa, 18 km northwest of Invercargill, as an active front moved through the region. The occupants were home, but luckily no one was injured. 30-31 May, Westland was hammered by heavy rain and thunderstorms and got hit by nearly 6000 lightning strikes. 31 May an Air NZ plane had to return to Auckland shortly after take-off as it was struck by lightning. Cloud and fog 14 March, New Plymouth flights were cancelled, and forced to turn around due to fog. The fog was caused by a humid air mass and relatively light winds. 24 April, evening fog affected flights at Auckland and Wellington airports. 4 May, 58 domestic flights out of Auckland Airport were cancelled due to fog, and 54 domestic flights were delayed. 11 May, 50 domestic flights out of Auckland Airport were cancelled and 36 domestic flights were delayed due to fog. 24-25 May, multiple flights were delayed or cancelled in and out of Christchurch Airport due to heavy fog that reduced visibility down to 100 m. 31 May, several flights were delayed and cancelled in and out of Dunedin Airport.


NOTABLE WEATHER IN NZ – AUTUMN 2019 (Ben Tichborne) This season was notable for unusually warm weather of March and May, even though April was near or cooler than normal in most areas. There was a mixture of settled and unsettled periods in all three months, the most notable event being the northwesterly storm and se-vere flooding on the South Island West Coast in late March. MARCH

1st -3rd – Cold nights in many areas due to cool airflow coming from south while anticy-clone ridges onto NZ.

3rd-6th – Warm days in many areas, flow. Whitianga’s 28C maximum is a new March rec-ord, under sunshine in a light anticyclonic southwesterly flow. Several other northern places also reach in to the high 20s, while some eastern places reach 30C-31C. Over-night on the 6th is also unusually warm in lower South Island, with new March record high minimums of 19C in Roxburgh and 17C in Dunedin.

5th – A dust devil filmed near Matamata, most probably due to ground heating. 6th – Some evening thunderstorms in Central Otago, with a lightning strike causing a scrub

fire on the Maniatoto Plains near Ranfurly. 7th-8th – Welcome rain in many areas, as trough cold front moves onto the South Island on

the 7th and morphs into a low over the North Island the next day. Some 30-40mm of rain falls in the Nelson/Tasman region, but is not enough to properly relieve drought conditions in the area. Some thunderstorms with downpours in parts of the North Is-land on 8th, eg Whanganui receives 23mm in one hour. (wettest hourly fall for March on record) Some flooding and slips in Wellington due to the heavy rain. Northerly winds reach gale in some places, eg 67 km/hr gust in Te Puke.

13th – Warm in many eastern areas, eg 32C maximum in Akaroa. However, southerly change in evening sends temperatures dropping rapidly in the South Island, with the wind reaching gale in some exposed eastern areas.

14th – Fog causes disruption at New Plymouth Airport. 17th – Warm in many northern areas in a light northerly flow, eg 29C maximum in Te Kui-

ti. 23rd – Morning fog in Auckland and Waikato, causing some disruption at Auckland Air-

port. 24th-27th – Very heavy rain and flooding on South Island West Coast (see details below)

APRIL

1st – Unusually warm overnight minimums under a northerly flow and cloud cover, pre-ceding front and trough. Lows are in the high teens in many places, and Mokohinau Is-land doesn’t fall below 20C. However, colder southwesterly change in far south, with some hail in Southland. Some heavy falls of rain in north and west of North Island, eg 56mm in Hawera. Winds reach gale in some exposed places, eg 102 km/hr gust rec-orded in Waiouru.

2nd – Some overnight thunderstorms in Canterbury with a cool southerly change. Howev-er, Whakatane still warm with a 25C maximum.

5th – Cold southerly over South Island, with fresh snow on the ranges. 6th/7th – Some heavy rain (with thunderstorm activity) about Wellington as an unstable

south to southeast flow affects central NZ, with some slips and surface flooding, espe-cially in east of region. Thunderstorms (some 500 lightning strikes reported) with heavy hail in parts of Central North Island - the hail making the road slippery between Taupo and Turangi. Fresh snow on alpine areas, including Mt Taranaki. Clear skies in lower inland South Island results in unseasonably heavy frosts, eg -4C minimum at Five Rivers, Southland (6th), and -6C in Ranfurly. (7th)

8th – Thunderstorms in Bay of Plenty, with about 1000 lightning strikes reported.


9th – Unusually warm in far south due to a northerly flow. 23C maximum at Tiwai Point and 20C at Puysegur Point.

9th/10th – Overnight heavy rain and thunderstorms about South Island West Coast, briefly closing SH6 between Makarora and Haast, and delaying repairs to Waiho Bridge fol-lowing late March flooding.

11th – Front crossing North Island brings some heavy rain with thunder and hail in places. 98mm recorded in Stratford.

12th – Strong southerly flow over NZ, with some snow on alpine areas. 14th – Unseasonably cold start to the day in northern areas, eg 4C minimum in Whangarei,

under weak ridge following southerly flow. 21st – Heavy rain in Taranaki, eg 105mm in New Plymouth. 23rd – Thunderstorms and hail in north of North Island. Waterspouts seen in Hauraki Gulf. 24th – Evening fog and low cloud causes disruption at both Auckland and Wellington Air-

ports. 29th – Active trough crosses NZ, preceded by strong northwesterly flow and heavy rain and

thunderstorms about South Island West Coast and southwest of North Island. A torna-do is reported to have damaged farm property near Oakura, Taranaki. Strong cold southerly change follows, with snow on the South Island ranges and heavy rain for a time in Canterbury. Surface flooding affects many streets in Christchurch, which (as well as Banks Peninsula) is also lashed by southerly gales that cut power to some 4000 homes.

MAY

2nd – Warm day in some eastern South Island areas in a westerly flow, prior to a cold front. 21C maximum at Tara Hills.

4th – Humid airmass and light winds cause heavy fog in Auckland, disrupting airport oper-ations. Heavy rain in Fiordland, eg 140mm at Secretary Island. By contrast, unusually warm in east of South Island, eg 24C maximum in Cheviot.

5th – Mild northerly flow brings well above normal temperatures to many parts of South Island. A new record May high of 17C at Arthurs Pass, while Te Anau’s overnight mini-mum of 13C is also a record for May.

10th – Unusually mild in north of the North Island, eg 21C maximums recorded in Whan-gaparoa and Mokohinau Island.

11th – Fog causes disruption at Auckland Airport. 12th/13th – Heavy rain in areas exposed to the north and west of both islands. 14th – Cold front crossing Southland brings thunderstorms, with two houses struck by

lightning at Waianiwa. 15th – West to southwest gales in the far south, with disruption at Invercargill Airport, and

shipping containers blown into Bluff Harbour. 16th – Heavy rain and southwesterly gales lash Southland and South Otago, as another cold

front crosses the area. The heavy rain causes some flooding in Southland. Very cold air brings snow showers to low levels on hills in Dunedin area, including the city’s hill sub-urbs. The cold southerly then sweeps north, with snow on Mt Herbert, Banks Peninsula and on the Ruahine and Kaweka Ranges.

24th/25th – Fog causes disruption at Christchurch Airport overnight and into morning of 25th, with visibility down to 100m. Heavy fog also affects Auckland on 24th, with disrup-tion to ferry services in Waitemata Harbour.

28th – Heavy rain many northern and western areas, especially in the northwest of the South Island. The rain causes a sinkhole near the base of the Takaka Hill on the Riwaka Side, closing SH60 for a time.

30th – Heavy rain in many western areas, eg 74mm recorded in Taumaranui. Flooding on South Island West Coast, with SH6 closed at Inangahua Junction due to threat of Buller River overflowing. Thunderstorms also on South Island West Coast.


31st – Active trough moves onto NZ, with rain becoming heavy in parts of Canterbury lat-er. Totals include 114mm in Akaroa (new May record), 67mm at Winchmore, and 63mm in Ashburton. Much colder air moves onto the South Island during the day, with snow levels lowering in some inland areas. (as low as Fairlie by evening) Mil-ford Road closed by snow.

MAJOR EVENT 24th-27th March – Very heavy rain and flooding on South Island West Coast Warm and very moist air caused exceptionally heavy rain about and west of the Southern Alps during this period. South Westland was worst affected, with severe flooding impacts. A north to northwest flow increased over the lower South Island during the 24th, with rain intensifying in Fiordland. Over the next two days a strong northwesterly flow covered the South Island, with several fronts slowly crossing the island. This would normally be a set-up for heavy rain on the West Coast and Alps by itself, but on this occasion the situation was further aggravated by a warmer than normal Tasman Sea. This resulted in even heavi-er rain than would occur in such a situation. Totals recorded during this period included 401mm at Milford Sound (25th), 291mm at Mt Cook Village (26th), 236mm at Arthurs Pass (26th), 174mm in Hokitika (26th), 140mm at Manapouri (25th – a new March record), and 110mm in Greymouth. (26th) The station at Cropp River, Westland recorded a massive 1086mm over the two days of the 25th/27th, which was a new two-day record for New Zealand for any month. Not surprisingly, the storm caused much disruption, with flooding and slips damaging property and closing roads. A State of Emergency was declared in Westland on the 26th, due to the impacts of the severe weather, which flooded all rivers in the district. A woman died after being washed away by the Arahura River. The flooding of the Waiho River near Franz Josef destroyed the SH6 bridge, with it taking nearly a week to rebuild. It also swept through an old waste dump, resulting in rubbish being washed out to sea and ending up on nearby beaches. SH73 through Arthurs Pass was also closed by a slip. As well as torrential rain, the warm northwesterly flow, combined with cloud cover pre-vented temperatures from falling much at night, with overnight minimums into the mid-high teens and even low 20s in places. New March records included 21C in Ashburton (26th), and 19C at Farewell Spit (27th), Milford Sound (26th), and Cheviot (26th), and 16C in Oamaru. (26th) On the 27th, the flow turned cooler southwesterly over the South Island, with rain finally easing on the West Coast. Meanwhile, a trough crossed the North Island, with a period of heavy rain in the southwest of the island, accompanied by gale force winds in exposed plac-es. (91 km/hr gust recorded in Waiouru) Mean sea-level analyses for 1PM NZDT 24 March to 1AM NZDT 28 March labelled in UTC in 12-hour steps are shown here. Thanks to MetService for supplying these maps and permis-sion to use them. They remain copyright to MetService.


..

MONTHLY WEATHER NOTES FOR CHRISTCHURCH: AUTUMN 2019 MARCH Temperatures were well above normal, while rainfall was below average. Northerly quarter flows were predominant, with conditions virtually a continuation of summer. Daytime highs were often in the mid-high 20s, with a few days topping 30C. Most of the rain fell on the 8th, in an onshore flow due to low pressure to the north and east, and on the 15th due to trough and northeasterly flow. The strongest winds were from brief southerly changes following north-westerlies on the 13th and 28th. APRIL By contrast to March, this month was somewhat cooler than normal. The most notable event during the month was the southerly storm on the 29th, which brought a short period of heavy rain and southerly gales which caused some damage to trees, as well as surface flooding. Some heavy rain also fell during the morning of the 5th, followed by scattered hail in the afternoon. These and several other periods of southerly winds brought snow to the Alps. By contrast, the 1st and 26th-28th were significantly warmer than usual, due to northerly and northwesterly flows. MAY While April hinted at winter, conditions reverted to milder and drier than normal for May. This was due to more northwesterly airflows resulting in daytime highs being especially warmer than usual. Rain events were generally brief and light. A strong, cold southerly change during the afternoon of the 16th brought a period of rain, leaving a dusting of snow on Mt Herbert and a frost the next morning after it cleared at night. The evening of the 31st was also cold and wet, as low pressure affected the South Island. (heavy falls affected some areas near Christchurch) The only other weather of note were a series of foggy mornings from the 22nd-25th.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1 March 2019 NIWA Weather and climate experts from around the world are meeting in Wellington next week to discuss the successes of a global scientific model focused on im-proving the accuracy and reliability of weather and climate forecasting. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Re-search (NIWA) is hosting the meeting at Te Papa on Tuesday where delegates will renew their member-ship in the global Unified Model Partnership - one of the world’s foremost weather and climate forecasting research collaborations. In its global form the Unified Model can provide infor-mation on weather systems around the world and the links between then. Regionally it can provide infor-mation on detailed weather and climate impacts at the kilometre scale using world-leading forecasting tech-nology. NIWA is New Zealand’s lead contributor to the Unified Model, which is helping communities around the world to reduce the risks of climate change. The col-laboration has been in existence for five years.

International weather and climate experts gather in Wellington


NIWA chief scientist climate Dr Sam Dean says the partnership has been invaluable in fore-casting tropical cyclones, fire weather risks, flooding and sea-level storm surges. "It is in-creasingly used to underpin transport management, as well as assessing and responding to volcanic eruptions, human health and biosecurity threats," Dr Dean says. "NIWA depends on the Unified Model for its forecasting and predictions of New Zealand’s weather and climate and it will be more critical for us in the future as we adapt to a changing climate." NIWA will showcase its new flood forecasting tool, developed after 10 years of research and producing flow forecasts for 66,000 streams and rivers around New Zealand. (Abridged) https://www.niwa.co.nz/news/international-climate-experts-gather-in-wellington

The 'boiling frog': Are we 'normalising' climate change?

3 Mar, 2019 The Nelson-Tasman region just swel-tered through one of its most brutally dry summers on record, which created conditions for a major bush fire. Pho-to / File New Zealand again just experienced one of its warmest summers on rec-ord. On top of that, four of the past six

years have been our warmest on the books. While meteorologists are sensibly reluctant to blame any single weather event on climate change, the background picture is incontrovertibly one of warming. That's raised a troubling question that researchers have just explored in a new study: are we at risk of normalising extreme weather at a time we should be most worried about it? That research, just published by US scientists, indicates that people have short memories when it comes to what they consider "normal" weather. On average, people base their idea of

normal weather on what has happened in just the past two to eight years. Source / Niwa This disconnect with the historical climate record may obscure the public's percep-tion of climate change, the researchers say. To reach their conclusions, the research-ers quantified a timeless and universal pastime — talking about the weather — by analysing posts on Twitter.

They sampled 2.18 billion geolocated tweets created between March 2014 and November 2016 to determine what kind of temperatures generated the most posts about weather. They found that people often tweet when temperatures are unusual for a particular place and time of year. However, if the same weather persisted year after year, it generated less comment on Twitter, indicating that people began to view it as normal in a relatively short amount of time. This phenomenon, the authors noted, was a classic case of the boiling-frog metaphor. A frog jumps into a pot of boiling hot water and immediately hops out. If, instead, the frog in the pot is slowly warmed to a boiling temperature, it doesn't hop out and is eventually


cooked. While scientifically inaccurate, this metaphor has long been used as a cautionary tale warning against normalising the steadily changing conditions caused by climate change. Climate scientist Professor Jim Salinger, however, doesn't think New Zealanders will be ex-posed to climate apathy as much as other countries. "Everyone talks about the weather in New Zealand - because it is interesting and very changeable. But as a country based on rural industries we are more strongly connected with the land than those large urban societies. Farmers keep good records so, as such, recognise the magnitude of any extreme. So, in my opinion we are less prone to such apathy." Victoria University climate scientist Professor James Renwick says that "We need to remind people of exceptional or memorable events from the past, and point out that recent extremes are different," https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12208547

Marine heatwaves to get stronger and more common

5 March 2019 New international research shows marine heatwaves are becoming more common and likely to get much stronger. Marine heatwaves - like the one experienced in New Zealand last summer - are likely to be-come more frequent and hurt marine ecosys-tems. Photo: 123RF Marine heatwaves are smaller and more rapid

changes in sea temperature that occur during hot weather. New Zealand experienced one last summer. The research, published in Nature Climate Change, shows the heatwaves are 54 percent more common internationally than they were 75 years ago. And they are likely to become more frequent and hurt marine ecosystems. One of the researchers, Dr Mads Thomsen from the University of Canterbury, said marine heatwaves were first recorded in New Zealand during last year's record-breaking summer. Dr Thomsen said more research was needed. In general, New Zealand waters are getting warmer. Niwa physical oceanographer Phil Sutton was the lead author on a study tracking ocean tem-peratures around New Zealand over the past 36 years. The world's oceans are warming about 40 percent more quickly than previously thought. Abridged https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/383999/marine-heatwaves-to-get-stronger-and-more-common Summer scorcher: New Zealand hit by third-hottest on record - NIWA 05 March 2019 This summer has been New Zealand's third-hottest on record, NIWA says. The nationwide average summer temperature was 17.9degC, beaten only by the summers of 2017/18 and 1934/35. The Summer Climate Summary, released on Tuesday, shows the main cause was above aver-age sea temperatures around the coast. "Marine heatwave conditions persisted in the Tasman Sea and coastal areas of Hawke's Bay and Canterbury experienced marine heatwave conditions for part of summer," NIWA says. In addition to the warm seas, summer air flow patterns pushed up temperatures due to a lack of southerlies throughout the season. Most notably, the combination of high pressure and hot


air masses originating from Australia led to prolonged hot conditions throughout much of New Zealand to the end of January. Abridged https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/summer-scorcher-new-zealand-hit-by-third-hottest-on-record-niwa.html

Smoke from Australian bush fires reaches New Zealand

6 March 2019

METSERVICE Smoke from the bushfires can be seen on satellite imagery from the Met-service on Wednesday morning. The grey-brown hue over southern New Zealand and west of the South Island is smoke at mid-levels, while the brighter looking streak extending northeast

from East Cape and south from Wellington is higher up, likely around 10km. "There were some nice sunrises because of it this morning and some nice sunsets last night." Australia's Nine News reported nine homes had been destroyed in more than 30 fires burning across the state on Wednesday morning.

Wellington the least polluted city in the world according to new report

8 MARCH Wellington has the least polluted air in the world, according to a new air quality report just in. NIWA's Chris Brandolino says Wellington's windy conditions play a big part in why the city has the cleanest air around. “Wind stirs things up, it moves the air, it moves things that are in it, so if there is some-thing that is over Wellington and it ’s windy, which oftentimes it is, it ’ll be going in the other direction,” he says. He says the location of the capital is also key to its favourable conditions. “If the wind comes from the west or south of west, it’s coming from a very unpopulated area like the southern ocean, so a lot of times it’s coming from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away and there is no one really there to pollute the air,” he says. He says Wellington's wind factor also moves pollution away from the city to other are https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/wellington-least-polluted-city-in-world-according-new-report

H e a v y r a i n i n W e l l i n g t o n b r i n g s f l o o d i n g a n d s l i p s

March 8, 2019 Heavy rain hammered Wellington this morning, prompting dozens of flooding-related calls to the city council. A landslip came down on to the Hutt Road this afternoon between the Onslow Road intersection and the Ngauranga Gorge – the roadway was down to one lane north-bound, so delays were expected till the slip was cleared.


An underpass at the Wellington Railway Station was flooded. Wellington received 12.2mm of rain within two hours this morning, according to MetService. Nelson was hit with 25mm within 6 hours. MetService Meteorologist Peter Little said: “While this rain will be welcomed by farmers and gardeners in these dry regions, it won’t be enough to make up for the short-fall this year.” (Abriidged) http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=116879

Polar vortex helping forecasters predict New Zealand weather

17 Mar 2019 While attention over the summer focused on the much-promised but yet to arrive El Nino, SAM - or the Southern Annular Mode, to give it its proper name - has been working away qui-etly in the background determining our weather. Forecasters are becoming increasingly enamored with SAM for the valuable guidance it gives of likely weather conditions up to two weeks ahead. SAM measures the strength of the "polar vortex", the ring of westerly winds which encircle the Antarctic. When SAM is positive - which it has been for most of the past four months except for the sec-ond half of last month - it shows the westerly wind belt is in place south of New Zealand, trap-ping cold Antarctic air and the stormiest southern ocean air behind it. MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths says "SAM" - the Southern Annular Mode - is in-creasingly recognized for its role in determining our weather. The positive SAM has been a factor in the extended hot, dry spells and recent record-breaking summers in many parts of the country. It typically encourages large areas of high pressure to block to the east and drags warm, sub-tropical northerly winds across both islands. But when it flips negative, take cover. The westerlies below New Zealand fall weaker than nor-mal, allowing those storms and polar southerlies to break through the vortex and blast north on to the country. Some of the coldest, stormiest, snowiest winters in recent years had a strongly negative SAM. Cold front after cold front, deep depression after deep depression, brought unusually frigid weather in July 1995, through much of 2002, and the extremely snowy winter of 2011, when snow lay on the Wellington hills in August and even fell in parts of Auckland. MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said "I really rate SAM for forecasting. It's a very useful tool in our toolbox when we are looking long-range, 14 days out. She estimated the fickleness of New Zealand's weather was about 30 per cent due to SAM, 30 per cent due to either an El Nino or La Nina event 30 per cent caused by what was going on in the tropics and 10 per cent down to what happened in the Tasman Sea. The positive flips (red) and negative flops (blue) of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) can be

clearly seen in this MetService plot running from January 2018 at left until this week. The head of Victoria University of Welling-ton's geography, environment and earth sci-ences school, Professor James Renwick, said the impact of SAM was not always straight-forward. "Negative SAM is weaker westerlies overall, but they come farther north as well, and bring the storms with them. So over New Zealand, the westerlies actually get stronger, even though the peak winds in the southern hemisphere decrease a bit. But because the

storm track is locked to where the winds are strongest, we get stormier and more unsettled weather."https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/111219007/outlook-for-new-zealand-weather-forecasting-is-clearing-thanks-to-polar-predictor


Coastal hazard findings for the Waitaki District presented 18 Mar 2019

MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Kakanui in the Waitaki District. (file photo) Coastal hazard findings by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Re-search (NIWA) for the Waitaki District across 20, 50, 100 and 500 years have been presented to the Otago Regional Council. Coastal erosion has been calculated for the entire length of the Waitaki district coast, with no new erosion hotspots

identified, the report on coastal hazards of the Waitaki District contracted by the Otago Re-gional Council (ORC) and Waitaki District Council (WDC) to NIWA. However, more than 60 per cent of the coast in the Waitaki district is shown to be retreating at a rate of 15cm per year or more, with continued erosion rates expected at the present hotspots of Katiki Beach, Beach Road, Kakanui, North Oamaru, Hampden, Kaika and Karita settlements. Flooding due to storm surge or sea level rise has been mapped for Oamaru, Kakanui, Hamp-den and Moeraki for various timeframe scenarios at each site. The areas mostly affected by inundation are Oamaru Harbour and Kakanui Estuary. ORC director engineering, hazards and science Dr Gavin Palmer said the report improves un-derstanding of future coastal hazards, erosion and inundation in the Waitaki District due to climate change. "NIWA found that while erosion is widespread, the flooding only applies to relatively small parts of the district, mostly Kakanui Estuary and Oamaru Harbour." Dr Palmer said the report would help the community to make better decisions on future land use. "We are working with the Waitaki District Council by providing technical support in under-standing the risk to coastal areas, so they can apply it to their planning processes. We are tak-ing into consideration the new Ministry for the Environment guidance on preparing for coastal change and providing learnings from other councils around how to adopt coastal re-ports with the inclusion of affected communities," he said. https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/111372796/coastal-hazard-findings-for-the-waitaki-district-presented

NZ's glaciers 'sad and dirty' after third-hottest summer

24 Mar, 2019 The Brewster glacier, located on the Main Divide near the South Island's Haast Pass, was among those affected by another unu-sually warm summer. Photo / Drew Lorrey New Zealand's famous glaciers are look-ing "sad and dirty" after another brutally warm summer, says a scientist who took part in this year's aerial stocktake. Each year, the Niwa-led snowline survey

checks the health of about 50 glaciers across the Southern Alps.


After the record-hot summer of 2017-18, scientists were struck by how many mountains had been stripped of ice and snow. The latest flight, undertaken last week, and following New Zealand's third warmest summer, found many of the glaciers still in a sorry state - and some had disappeared altogether. "I'd say it was unimpressive - in fact, it's quite concerning… sad and dirty is still the story," Ni-wa climate scientist Drew Lorrey said. "Last year, the vast majority of glaciers had snowlines that were off the top of the mountain, and this year, we had some where we could see snowlines on, but they were very high. "On the first day of our survey, we observed 28 of them, and only about six of them had what I would call a snowline." He was particularly concerned that some appeared to have receded around upper edges. "If you are removing that nucleus up at the highest point of the mountain, and then you start to add stuff on over winter and strip it back during summer, there's really nothing there for it to get added on to that's robust." Glacier fluctuations were among the clearest signals of climate change, because they were highly sensitive indicators of atmospheric temperature and precipitation levels. Scientists believe it was a warming planet that had partly caused New Zealand's glaciers to shrink in total volume by one third in just four decades of observations. Lorrey didn't expect some of those smaller, hardest-hit glaciers would survive much longer. One glacier on Mt Wilson, in Arthur's Pass, had been reduced to what he described as two "puny" snowpacks. "When I started going on the survey about 10 years ago or so, it was still there. Now, it's nope, nothing there." Another glacier atop Mt St Mary had also vanished. "Some of these glaciers were very small to start with, but now we have ice packs that are just melting away." Lorrey expected the impact of warmer sea surfaces on local climate – especially the freak ma-rine heatwave that engulfed New Zealand over the summer of 2017-18 – were much to blame for the recent melt. "That we had warmer water around the northern two thirds of the country over decent stretches of this summer played a big part," he said. "And last year, when those sea surface temperature anomalies in the Tasman Sea stretched further south, well that was absolutely killer, because the effect reaches up to altitude and then dictates what's going on with air temperature." The survey was the first in 40 years without glaciologist Trevor Chinn, who began making the aerial stock takes in the 1970s, and died in December at the age of 81. Chinn's legacy was a unique and invaluable dataset that offered an independent measure of how climate change and variability affected New Zealand's water resources. "He gave us excellent training and he set us on this path of having long-term observation data that's unbroken – and it's an amazing way to track what's going on with our cryosphere and climate," Lorrey said. A lack of snow cover on the Southern Alps after New Zealand's third hottest summer was clearly apparent. Photo / Drew Lorrey The team hadn't been the only one to notice the sorry state of many glaciers. One group of Swiss scientists who recently visited as part of a global survey said some of the smaller glaciers appeared to be decaying at a faster rate. Research recently presented by climate scientist Professor Jim Salinger indicated that, over 2017-18, the alps experienced their biggest snow melt on record, losing about 9 per cent of their total ice volume. Lorrey however said Niwa and Victoria University were yet to report the official data. Other figures, reported to the American Geophysical Union in 2017, revealed how New Zea-land's total glacier area had shrunk from 1240 sq km to 857 sq km - a decrease of 31 per cent since the late 1970s, or just under 1 per cent of loss each year.


The number of glaciers also fell slightly from 3283 to 3180, while mean altitude climbed from 1859m to 1939m above sea level. Victoria University glaciologist Brian Anderson takes a photograph during an aerial survey of the Southern Alps. Photo / Drew Lorrey Those figures followed a 2014 analysis which showed ice volume in the Southern Alps had shrunk by 18.4cu km or 34 per cent since the 1970s, and ice losses had been accelerating rap-idly since the turn of the new century. Whether the overall trend of ongoing loss continued was dependent on how the world acted on climate change. One scenario that assumed future warming could be limited only to another 2C - the ultimate goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change - would see glaciers keep retreating but stabi-lising by the middle of the century. But if emissions continued to ramp up without any efforts to curb them, glaciers could become virtually unrecognisable by 2100. Around the world, glaciers were already melting at an unprecedented rate, losing on average between half a metre and metre of ice thickness every year. This year's survey team included Niwa climate scientist Gregor Macara, Dr Brian Anderson, Dr Ollie Wigmore and Lauren Vargo from Victoria University, and pilots Andy Woods and Aaron Duff of Milford Sound Scenic Flights. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12215803 Weather: 'Atmospheric river' bringing monster storm to New Zealand this week 25/03/2019 Rain maps show heavy falls are on their way. Credits: Twitter/NIWA Heavy rain and freezing wind are set to batter the South Island this week as summer comes to a close. An "atmospheric river" of pressure, left over from Australia's cyclones will make its way across to Tasman Sea, and hit the South Island on Monday, reports NIWA. Due to this 'river', the West Coast will see an "exceptional" amount of rain on Monday and Tuesday, Metservice predicts. Flooding, slips, high river flows and washed out roads will ac-company this heavy rain. Experts are warning residents to be wary of the conditions that accompany this wild weather. Metservice meteorologist Andy Best warns it may lead to flooding and slips. Canterbury and Buller are under a heavy rain watch, and the possibility of thunderstorms has not been ruled out by Metservice. But it's not just rain; on Tuesday, a strong north-westerly front will hit southern New Zealand, having made its way across the Tasman Sea. This front will bring cooler weather, as well as gales. Canterbury, Otago, Fiordland and Marlborough are all on heavy wind watch, with warnings of "severe" gales throughout the day. The front is expected to move over the island on Wednesday and in its wake, a much cooler southwest wind. Friday morning is colder still. Earlier risers will be treated to dawn temperatures hovering around 6degC. While the South Island freezes, the North Island is forecast to remain relatively pleasant. A persistent northerly flow is keeping Auckland temperatures between 24 and 25degC. However, WeatherWatch is warning next week could be another chilly one, as the remnants of Cyclone Trevor joins forces with a cold front making its way across the Tasman Sea. The front and the cyclone will likely bring rain across the North Island. Newshub. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/weather-atmospheric-river-bringing-monster-storm-to-new-zealand-this-week.html


Weather: 'Atmospheric river' bringing monster storm to New Zealand this week

25/03/2019 Heavy rain and freezing wind are set to batter the South Island this week as summer comes to a close. An "atmospheric river" of pressure, left over from Australia's cyclones will make its way across to Tasman Sea, and hit the South Island on Monday, reports NIWA. Due to this 'river', the West Coast will see an "exceptional" amount of rain on Monday and Tuesday, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/weather-atmospheric-river-bringing-monster-storm-to-new-zealand-this-week.html

West Coast bridge washed away as rivers reach record levels

26 March 2019 A state of emergency has been de-clared in Westland as torrential rain brings flooding to the region, with the Waiho Bridge, south of Franz Josef Glacier, totally washed away. The heavy rain raised rivers to rec-ord levels, closed roads and prompted evacuation warnings in the area. Some parts of Westland face up to 800 millimetres of rain during the downpour.

State Highway 6 between Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers has been closed since this morning af-ter two slips covered the road. MetService said residents of north-west Nelson, the Richmond and Tararua Ranges and around Mount Taranaki should watch for heavy rain. Westland District Council mayor Bruce Smith said an "incredible" amount of rain had been forecast, with predictions of between 600mm and 800mm to fall.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/385602/as-it-happened-west-coast-bridge-washed-away-as-rivers-reach-record-levels

West Coast battered by extreme weather, Waiho Bridge washed away

26 Mar, 2019 Torrential downpours on the South Island's West Coast have led to slips and road and school closures, with some sites copping nearly half a metre of rain since Sunday.The Waiho Bridge at Haast was washed away about 4:30pm and much of State Highway 6 is now closed. MetService said the strong front will slide over the South Island today before breaking onto the North Island tomorrow, bringing with it strong winds and heavy rain.


Latest MetService Westland Radar @ 3.22pm, where red & purple highlights areas of heavy rain. MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said Milford Sound had already had more than 400mm of rain since Sunday. There would be even larger accumulations in the ranges but there were no rain gauges in the hardest-hit spots, Glassey said. Flooding at Harihari today, up State Highway 6 from nearby Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, as heavy rain falls. Photo / Supplied Once the front reached the North Island there could be some heavy falls around Mt Taranaki and the Tararua Ranges, but it would have greatly weakened leaving just some isolated show-ers on the flats for the end of the week, Glassey said. Abridged.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216522 Wellington gust bring down lamp post, powerlines. 27 March 2019 Severe gusts brought down a lamp post at Lyall Bay and powerlines in Te Aro. Peak gusts of 126 kilometres per hour were re-ported at the top of Mt Kaukau around midday. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/watch-wellington-gusts-bring-down-lamp-post-powerlines

Parts of West Coast underwater 27 Mar 2019 A State of Emergency has been de-clared for the West Coast region of the South Island, with huge rain-falls over Tuesday and into Wednesday. The Waiho Bridge has been com-pletely destroyed. Heavy rain on the West Coast has caused widespread flooding and slips, closing more than 600 kilo-metres of State Highway 6 to

through traffic. Aerial images show the extent of the flooding and slips around Franz Josef in South Westland on Wednesday.


METSERVICE Two sat-ellite images - visible on left and infra-red on the right - taken at 9am Tuesday March 26 by the Japanese Himawari satellite. The nor'west arch shows up as green in the infra-red image, with heavy rain cloud on to the West Coast. In the last 48 hours, Cropp Waterfall has recorded 1086mm of rain - the highest level for that time period

on record, says Niwa Weather. Police said the body of Gloria Reardon-Hirst, 66, of Arahura Valley was found in the Arahura Valley, north of Hokitika, just after 9am today. The extreme weather front caused major flooding and demolished the Waiho River bridge on the West Coast, closed major roads and schools and forced evacuations. Multiple roads remain closed on the West Coast due to the damage caused by the floods.

The washed away chunk of highway. Photo / Wayne Cos-tello, DOC Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi and West Coast MP Da-mien O'Connor today flew over parts of the West Coast that were deluged by heavy rain over the past couple of days. Faafoi said the New Zealand Transport Agency had advised that a replace-ment of the Waihoa bridge - a prefabricated "Bailey bridge" - would take about a fort-night to replace.

Tips for preparing for a storm

• Make sure your emergency kit is well-stocked. If you're not sure what to include, check out getthru.govt.nz. • If there's a chance your house will flood, move electrical items off the ground and unplug them. • If you're near the coast or a waterway, park your car in the garage or move it to higher ground. •Clean out blocked gutters and drains before any rain begins. If your roadside drains are blocked, call the local council. • Take down outdoor umbrellas and bring in or tie down outdoor furniture where possible. If you have a trampoline, turn it upside down to minimise the surface area exposed to wind. Abridged https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216808


Climate change hit 62m people worldwide, says State of the Global Climate report 29 Mar 2019 Extreme weather last year hit 62 million people worldwide and forced 2 million people to re-locate, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). 2018 saw record sea level rise and exceptionally high land and ocean temperatures as the physical signs and socio-economic impacts of climate change accelerate, the organisa-tions's 2018 State of the Global Climate report, released today, says. The WMO, which is the United Nations' weather agency, said emissions from burning fuels such as coal, petrol and diesel for electricity and transportation are contributing to global warming that in turn brings more intense storms, floods and droughts. It "makes for sobering reading," said professor James Renwick, a climate scientist and head of the Victoria University of Wellington's school of geography, environment and earth sciences. "Carbon dioxide concentrations are at record levels, ocean heat content and sea levels are both at record highs, sea ice extent is well below normal in both hemisphere, glaciers and ice sheets are melting," he said. "The record heat in New Zealand and the Tasman Sea during summer 2017/18 is an example of what we can expect much more of in future years.” Renwick said it was vital that governments here and overseas take notice. "The globe is cur-rently running a temperature of about 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To rein in the warming at no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial, global emissions need to halve by 2030, and go to zero by 2050. Yet, emissions increased to record levels in 2018," he said. If we don't make changes, New Zealand will continue to see significant impacts in the future, said professor Jim Salinger, visiting scholar at Penn State University. https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/111637236/climate-change-is-accelerating-says-state-of-the-global-climate-report

Thursday, 4 April 2019 March heat sure sign of climate shift 4 April 2019 Nine locations across Otago and Southland have reported their hottest March on record, and Niwa climate scientists say it is yet more evidence of a warming climate. Statistics released yesterday showed temperatures during March were at record highs in many places across the country, making it the second-equal hottest on record for New Zea-land. Niwa principal climate scientist Dr Brett Mullan said at 17.6degC, the average March tempera-ture tied with March 1999 and was just behind March 1968. ''The high March temperatures were consistent with our warming climate and when seen in context with other warm months, a clear trend was evident. 'Australia has just experienced its hottest March on record, and its hottest first quarter of the year ever recorded,'' he said. Abridged https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/march-heat-sure-sign-climate-shift

Winter is coming: Sub-zero temperatures and a month's worth of rain in a night

7 Apr 2019 As New Zealand plunged towards winter, with sub-zero temperatures reached, parts of Wel-lington got a month's worth of rain in a single night.


A high pressure system with clear skies and light winds at the bot-tom of the South Island sent the central Otago town of Alexandra to an overnight low of -3.9degC while Omarama in South Canter-bury and Lake Pukaki dropped to -4.4C, Stephen Glassey from Met-Service said. JASON DORDAY/STUFF It was a cold Saturday in Auckland, with overnight temperatures drop-ping to 11C.

The high-pressure system was pushing an unsettled southeast flow over central and northern New Zealand, and with it came a lot of rain. In the Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata and likely also in nearby Eastbourne, about 95mm of rain fell overnight, making them the wettest parts of New Zealand. https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/111853791/winter-is-coming-subzero-temperatures-and-a-months-worth-of-rain-in-a-night

Snow on mountain brings autumnal chill to Taranaki

7 Apr 2019 GLENN JEFFREY/FAIRFAX NZ A fresh dusting of snow on Mt Taranaki on Sunday morning. Taranaki woke to the first snowfall on the mountain and a definite autumnal chill on Sunday. Fortunate-ly, for many of us there was an hour extra to stay snuggled up in bed as day-

light saving had ended at 2am. Abridged https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/111860296/snow-on-mountain-brings-autumnal-chill-to-taranaki

1000 lightning strikes hit the Bay of Plenty since midnight

8 Apr, 2019 12:08pm More than 1000 lightning strikes across the Bay of Plenty region have been recorded since midnight. Metservice weather forecaster Hordur Thordarson said "Because of our current weather situation we have a lot of cold air up high but the sea is still warm from the summer. "Warm air is light and rises up which cause it to become unstable and that's what triggers these thun-derstorms." Abridged Hail settled on a property on Whakakpapa Rd near Taupō. Photo / Supplied https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12220170


Highway washed out, bridge delayed

10 April 2019 The State Highway 6 bridge over the Waiho River. Photo: Wayne Costello/Doc Heavy rain today has forced the closure of Haast Pass and delayed the planned reo-pening of a West Coast bridge destroyed by floods two weeks ago. The bridge, which is described as a lifeline for the district, was washed away in the floods two weeks ago. Abridged https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-

coast/highway-washed-out-bridge-delayed

Surging emissions show NZ needs stronger action on climate

11 April 2019, Press Release: Greenpeace New Zealand New data released today showing that New Zealand’s emissions have continued to grow rapid-ly in 2017 have been called "disturbing" by Greenpeace. Executive Director, Russel Norman, says the just-released Greenhouse Gas Inventory is anoth-er red flag that action to cut New Zealand’s climate emissions has never been more urgent. The Inventory shows New Zealand’s gross emissions increased 2.2% between 2016 and 2017, and increased by 23% between 1990 and 2017. Abridged http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1904/S00126/surging-emissions-show-nz-needs-stronger-action-on-climate.htm

Govt pledge over dry conditions 12 April 2019 Damian O'Connor Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor says he will continue to moni-tor the dry conditions in the Clutha district so the Government is ready to "step in if required". Earlier this week, Otago Federated Farmers president Simon Davies said Clutha was "basically in a drought" and he urged farmers to proac-tively manage their businesses. Yesterday, Mr Walker said the situation had "snuck up" on farmers and was getting worse. "Niwa's drought index shows that Clutha is dry and

is headed to drought very fast without substantial rain soon." Abridged https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-life-other/govt-pledge-over-dry-conditions New Zealand's 'Easter Egg high' to move on by Easter weekend 14 April 2019 There's bad news for those heading to the beach this Easter weekend - New Zealand's 'Easter Egg' high may have arrived a touch too early. Most of the country will experience dry and settled weather underneath a high the shape of an Easter egg from as early as Monday. However, initial forecasts have a cold front moving up the South Island on Good Friday. The result is the possibility of rain or showers as people head away for their extended weekend. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/04/weather-new-zealand-s-easter-


egg-high-may-have-moved-on-by-easter-weekend.html Environment Report a clear picture of change 18 April 2019 The latest state of the environment report released today provides clear evidence that the cli-mate and marine systems are changing, says NIWA. Environment Aotearoa 2019, compiled by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, is a comprehensive analysis of how climate change, pollution and water quality is-sues are significantly affecting the country. Dr Andrew Tait, NIWA Chief Scientist Climate, said "The challenges of reducing our urban air pollutants and national greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a highly variable and changing climate are hugely important and affect all New Zealanders." Abridged http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/5/336718

Lightning and Rain for North Island for Easter Apr 21 2019 About 100 lightning strikes were recorded in and around Taranaki within the space of two hours on Sunday afternoon as the Easter weekend sunshine gave way to storms. The MetService said Inglewood received 24.5mm of rain between noon and 1pm while New Plymouth was drenched with 50.8mm between 11am and 2pm and Hāwera received 26.5mm between midday and 4pm. MetService meteorologist April Clark said the heavy rain was expected to ease from Monday morning. Abridged https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/112181621/lightning-lashes-taranaki-as-easter-weather-turns-into-a-wash-out

‘Unstable’ atmosphere causing wa-terspouts in Auckland

23 Apr 2019

DARREN LITTLER/SUPPLIED A waterspout was seen in

Waitematā Harbour on Tuesday. Warm water and an unstable at-mosphere have created the per-fect environment for waterspouts in Auckland, MetService says. Meteorologist April Clark said

waterspouts could be seen forming in the Hauraki Gulf and in eastern parts of the Waitematā Harbour on Tuesday morning. Clark said there was a low pressure area moving over the whole of the North Island and the unstable atmosphere over the upper North Island had created waterspouts over water. Abridged.


https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112201977/unstable-atmosphere-causing-waterspouts-in-auckland Waterspouts off Waiheke: Photos capture unusual phenomenon 23 April 2019 At least four waterspouts have been seen off the coast of Waiheke as heavy rain works its way across the harbour.

Waterspouts formed near Waiheke Island before moving into the Firth of Thames. Photo: Paul Dyson The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said conditions were ide-al for waterspouts with warm ocean temperatures, much cooler air, and relatively light winds. NIWA meteorologist Ben Noll said Autumn was peak season for waterspouts with ocean waters still relatively warm and the Southern Ocean supplying occasion bouts of cold air. Abridged https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/387579/waterspouts-off-waiheke-photos-capture-unusual-phenomenon Otago's patient wait for a weather radar may be rewarded - with two units 24 April Paul Gorman Otago residents have waited more than 25 years for MetService to install one of the multimillion-dollar units, which highlight areas of heavy rain, hail and snow, the direc-tion in which they are moving and whether they are developing or weakening. Radar images from MetService's Southland and Canterbury units give forecasters some guidance of conditions throughout Otago. But, due to the region's hills and moun-tains, they do not provide comprehensive coverage of what the clouds are doing above Dun-edin. That southern patience may now be rewarded two-fold, with private weather forecasting company WeatherWatch saying it is "potentially" on the lookout for a good Otago site for one of its own radars. MetService has previously said it cannot reveal the preferred location of its Otago radar due to land negotiations, but hinted it was considering a site about 40 kilometres southwest of Dunedin and hoped to commission the radar by about this time next year.


Stuff understands the best place for the radar – to maximise its "view" of weather across as much of the region as possible – would be somewhere on the range of coastal hills between the Taieri Plain and the sea, above Henley or Taieri Mouth.

The MetService's weather radar unit near Hokitika, which provides coverage from Jacksons Bay to Karamea and 200km out to sea. WeatherWatch managing director Philip Duncan said the company was planning to invest in a nationwide radar network. h t t p s : / / w w w . s t u f f . c o . n z /n a t i o n a l / 1 1 2 2 1 8 6 4 9 / o t a g o s -p a t i e n t - w a i t - f o r - a - w e a t h e r -r a d a r - m a y - b e - r e w a r d e d - -w i t h - t w o - u n i t s

S t a r s a l i g n f o r l o w e r N o r t h I s l a n d d u c k s h o o t e r s

30 April, 2019 Deteriorating weather and good duck numbers in the lower North Island are aligned for the Opening of the game bird hunting season which starts this Saturday (May 4). After several years of calm conditions ushering in the last few seasons, hunters will be happy to have some rougher weather stirring the birds up this weekend and hopefully keeping them on the move rather than settling in spots out of range. The front that hit the lower North Island early in the week has also played into hunters’ hands. “We had a really good blow on Monday and Tuesday with lots of rain which will have dispersed the ducks, forcing them off the large water bodies to the small ponds, sheltered wetlands and even pasture to feed.” http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=118260

Four rescued from raging floodwaters

29 April 2019 Four people were rescued by heli-copter from the Hopkins River on Saturday amid wild weather warn-ings. Their four-wheel drive vehicle had overturned in the swollen river, which feeds into Lake Ohau. Severe weather warnings were in place for the headwaters of Otago's main lakes and rivers until late yes-terday, with up to 90mm of rain ex-pected about the main divide and 60mm within 15km east of the di-vide. A rescue helicopter prepares to pluck the four, one by one, from the vehicle

over 45 minutes. PHOTOS: AORAKI MT COOK DOC RESCUE TEAM. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/four-rescued-raging-floodwaters


WIDESPREAD POWER CUTS and Floooding in Christchurch 29 April 2019 JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF More than two dozen streets around Christ-church have been af-fected by surface flooding. A spokeswoman for lines company Orion said the wild weather caused more than 4000 Canter-

bury homes to lose power yesterday afternoon, particularly in Akaroa and Diamond Harbour.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/west-coast/112310319/surface-flooding-in-christchurch-slip-causes-delays-on-west-coast-highway

Rapid melting of the world's largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean

29 APRIL, 2019 The Ross Polynya where solar heat is ab-sorbed by the ocean. The vertical wall of the ice front stretches a distance of 600 km. Credit: Poul Christoffersen An international team of scientists has found part of the world's largest ice shelf is melting 10 times faster than ex-pected due to solar heating of the sur-rounding ocean. In a study of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, which covers an area roughly the size of

France, the scientists spent several years building up a record of how the north-west sector of this vast ice shelf interacts with the ocean beneath it. Their results, reported in the jour-nal Nature Geoscience, show that the ice is melting much more rapidly than previously thought due to inflowing warm water."The stability of ice shelves is generally thought to be related to their exposure to warm deep ocean water, but we've found that solar heated sur-face water also plays a crucial role in melting ice shelves," said first author Dr. Craig Stewart

from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand, who conducted the work while a Ph.D. student at the University of Cam-bridge. The researchers point out that melting measured by the study does not imply that the ice shelf is currently unstable. The ice shelf has evolved over time and ice lost by melting due to inflow of warm water is roughly balanced by the inputs of ice from feeding glaciers and snow accumulation. This balance is, how-ever, depending on the stability provided by the Ross Island pinning point, which the new study identifies as a point of future vulnerability. Abridged https://phys.org/news/2019-04-rapid-world-largest-ice-shelf.html


The leaves they are a fallin': Autum-nal chill hits Hawke's Bay

1 May, 2019 4:31pm Fallen leaves near Napier Boy's High School. Photo/Warren Buckland Large amounts of autumn leaves have cluttered mainly suburban streets in Napier and Hastings over the last few days, posing a risk to drainage if there were significant rain, but online forecasts today showed no hint of rain over the next 10 days.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=12226982

Privately-owned weather radar possible

4 May 2019 Philip Duncan Otago could have a new state-of-the-art weather radar installed within the next 12 months, if all goes to plan. The region has never had a weather radar, and the major gap in the forecasting network is being seen by WeatherWatch owner and head forecaster Philip Duncan as a great business oppor-tunity. He is hoping to use his privately-owned weather compa-ny and private business connections to raise enough funds to fill the void.

Historically, radar images for Otago's weather have come from MetService's Southland and Canterbury weather radars, but because of Otago's hilly and mountainous terrain, they did not give enough detail about what the weather was doing over the region. An Otago radar would help forecast prolonged heavy rain which causes flooding in South Dun-edin and flash flooding in Central Otago, as well as hail and snow storms which could cause damage to crops and chaos on the roads. Mr Duncan said MetService had hoped to build a multimillion-dollar weather radar near Mil-ton, but five years after it received government funding for the project, nothing has happened. A MetService spokesman said staff were in the "very final stages" of securing a site for the MetService's planned Otago radar, and an announcement about its location was "imminent".

"We're still committed to having a weather radar operational in Otago by June 2020," he said. Abridged https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/privately-owned-weather-radar-possible Changes to the official severe weather warnings

14 May 2019

The warnings will be in orange and the watches in yellow. Image: MetService.


The MetService is enhancing the way it communicates public alerts for severe weather. From 21 May, MetService is introducing a new level of warning reserved for the most extreme weather events, as well as new colours and graphics, to more clearly signify the type of alert in place. There will now be two levels of warnings for heavy rain, strong wind or heavy snow: an Or-ange Warning (orange hexagon graphic) and a Red Warning (red triangle graphic). An Orange Warning will be issued when heavy rain, strong wind or heavy snow is forecast to meet warning criteria. It signifies that people need to be prepared and take action as appropriate as there could be some disruption to their day and potential risk to people, animals and property. A Red Warning will be reserved for only the most extreme weather events, such the severe weather resulting from extra-tropical cyclones, where significant impact and disruption is ex-pected. It signifies that people need to act now as immediate action is required to protect people, ani-mals and property from the impact of the weather. MetService General Manager, Meteorological Operations, Ramon Oosterkamp says the chang-es will make it easier for everyone to understand the severity of the expected weather. “We know that ‘severe weather’ means different things to different people. By introducing these changes, we aim to give people greater clarity about what to expect, enabling them to be bet-ter prepared for the particular weather conditions.” “Flagging an event with a Red Warning will only happen after careful consideration and peer review by our severe weather team at MetService. Where appropriate, we will discuss the pending event with Councils or Civil Defence.” The use of colour-coded warnings linked to impacts is recommended by the World Meteoro-logical Organisation, of which the MetService is a member. MetService’s Severe Weather Watches will now be identified with a yellow circle graphic. Dur-ing a Watch we ask that people be alert, to be prepared for bad weather, and to keep up-to-date with advice from MetService as a Warning is possible. Abridged https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/208626-changes-to-official-severe-weather-warnings.html

Scientists study how to predict marine heatwaves

16 May 2019 Scientists have taken a step closer to predicting marine heatwaves with new NIWA-led research finding a link between their formation and the length of time sea tempera-tures are warmer than normal. For the past two summers, the Tasman Sea has experienced a marine heatwave, where peri-ods of extremely warm sea surface temperatures persisted for a prolonged period of time and extended thousands of kilometres. They are potentially devastating for marine ecosystems but are expected to become more fre-quent under a range of climate change scenarios. Recent studies have shown they also have a strong influence on climate, temperature and rainfall patterns. NIWA scientist Dr Erik Behrens is the lead author of a new research paper showing that ocean currents in the Tasman Sea are controlling the oceanic heat content and marine heat waves in the Tasman Sea. The paper has just been published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, which has dedicated the entire issue to marine “Measuring ocean heat content is like measuring fever but in the ocean and tells you a lot about its wellbeing. If the ocean is already warm, the likelihood for marine heatwaves is en-hanced because less surface heating is required to drive temperature extremes.” Marine heatwave conditions continued in the Tasman Sea throughout April. NIWA forecasters predict these warmer than average seas may lead to a reduction in the intensity and duration of cold spells over winter. Abridged http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1905/S00031/scientists-study-how-to-predict-marine-heatwaves.htm


Government report reveals MetService considering new hot weather warnings

20 May 2019 The potential dangers of climate change are at the heart of proposed new weath-er forecasts MetService has been con-sulting confidentially about with gov-ernment departments. ROB KITCHIN/STUFF MetService's Kel-burn, Wellington, headquarters (file pho-to).

MetService and the Minister of Transport are negotiating for the next contract to provide pub-lic forecasts and severe weather warnings. The other MetService contract proposals under discussion, according to the document, are: - National coastal inundation threat forecasting and emergency-response modelling. - Replacement weather radars for Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury and Southland, and new weather radars for the southern North Island, northern South Island and inland Ota-go. - Support for the Pacific weather observing programme. - Support for Southwest Pacific severe-weather forecasting and a disaster risk-reduction

demonstration project. - Provision for temporary back-up for the responsibilities of the Nadi Tropical Cy-clone Warning Centre. The cost of previous three-year core con-tracts has been about $17.5 million. The exclusive contracts have never been put out for public tender, a source of contro-versy in the past, and have been worth close to $300m to MetService since the first was signed in 1992. Abridged https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/112785790/government-report-reveals-metservice-considering-new-hot-weather-warnings Thermal imaging surveys reveal further South Island glacial retreat 22 May 2019 A standard digital image of Tasman Glacier terminus in Tasman Lake above a thermal image showing temperature of the debris cover over the glacier terminus and the sur-face temperature of the lake. The brighter colours in the thermal image are warmer temperatures, while the darker colours are cooler. Thermal imaging of the South Island's glac-iers has revealed further retreat as climate


change begins to take effect. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) has recently completed gathering its findings from an aerial survey of glaciers in March. Niwa used thermal imaging to measure the temperature change inside the glaciers and cli-mate scientist Dr Andrew Lorrey said the new technology told an interesting story. "It was pretty interesting to see across the course of a day what temperature swings that occurred. Some of the material around the glaciers was in the high 20s. "It's quite clear from the long term surveys that we've lost a lot of ice... Our best guess is that most of the glaciers which existed in the 1970s have retreated by 30 per cent." Lorrey said glaciers hold a lot of information about climate change. Abridged https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/112916920/thermal-imaging-surveys-reveal-further-south-island-glacial-retreat

Fog in Auckland delays morning ferry commutes 24 May 2019 PETER MEECHAM/STUFF Fog around the outskirts of Auck-land City on Friday. Fog lingering around Auckland city is causing disruptions to ferry services between Hobson-ville, Beach Haven and the CBD. Met-

Service meteorologist Tamara Vuksa said the city itself wasn't likely to have been been affect-ed by fog but there was fog around Whenuapai, and also around south Auckland, Ham-ilton and Waikato. Abridged Auckland airport was not af-fected by fog on Friday morn-ing. https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112966999/fog-in-auckland-delays-morning-ferry-commutes


Climate scientists gather for conference 28 May Scientists (from left) Dr Manu Mahieu, of the University of Liege, Belgium, Tyler Wizenberg, of the University of Toronto, and Dave Pollard, of Lauder, examine the solar trackers at the Lauder Atmospheric Research Station. The sci-entists were part of an international and na-tional group which visited the Lauder station after a conference in Wanaka this week. PHO-TO: PAM JONES More than 50 international and national scien-tists have had a meeting of minds at an annual conference this week. - the 2019 Joint NDACC-IRWG and TCCON meeting. The scientists spent Monday to Thursday in conference sessions in Wanaka, then about half of them came to Lauder yesterday to tour the Niwa site.

The scientists all worked measuring greenhouse gas emissions and were part of a global net-work that collectively monitored long-term changes in atmospheric composition and radia-tion, validated and calibrated satellite sensors, and learnt more about the causes and effects of climate change and interactions between global warming and ozone depletion, a Niwa spokeswoman said. Abridegd

How climatic patterns in the Indian and Pacific Oceans affect Australian wines

30 May Choosing a wine to drink can come down to a simple meteorological decision: a crisp chardon-nay on a warm summer's day, a full-bodied shiraz for the winter chill. As wine grape growers around the world grapple with how best to adapt to a changing cli-mate, researchers have delved into the climatic patterns of the oceans surrounding Australia, finding that the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) can set off a chain of events that impact wine grape flavour and form. The research, conducted by the University of Melbourne (UOM), the New South Wales Depart-ment of Primary Industries and Agriculture Victoria, found unusually warm weather associat-ed with an El Nino and a positive phase of the IOD during the growing season can cause grapes to develop rapidly and mature up to 42 days earlier than usual. When the IOD is in a positive phase, the waters off Western Australia's north-west are cooler than usual, reducing the amount of moisture available in the region to be dragged across Aus-tralia by storm systems. This ultimately leads to less rainfall and higher temperatures (and higher sugar/alcohol content) over parts of central and southern Australia during winter and spring. “When grapes ripen quickly the sugars increase … so you end up with a wine that's quite high in alcohol but doesn't have a lot of body to it because the acidity has dropped out of it and that impacts wine quality," said Dr Jarvis.


PHOTO: If grapes ripen quickly the sugar is increased, which leads to a more alcoholic wine. (ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-30/how-climatic-patterns-in-oceans-impact-australian-wines/11161696 Snow falling in parts of South as winter arrives 31 May 2019 It is snowing in parts of the South this morning and warnings are in place for some mountain passes as winter arrives a day early for Otago and Southland. Snow is continuing to fall on the Crown Range, between Queenstown and Wanaka, this morn-ing and motorists have been advised to carry chains as a precaution. The Remarkables ski area, scheduled to open next Saturday, received 5cm overnight, while Coronet Peak got 6cm.

Snow is falling on the Crown Range this morning. Photo: MetService MetService meteorologist Peter Little said a strong, cold southerly flow could bring snow to the ranges of the South Island tomorrow and early on Sunday. Abridged https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/climate-scientists-gather-conference

\ \


False spring Early blossom in South Canterbury proof of a changing climate 31 May

JOHN BISSET/STUFF Brooke Taylor, 9, admires blossom at Timaru. Early blossom showing off its beauty in South Canterbury at the moment could be further in-dication of a changing climate, according to plant and climate experts. "Warming due to climate change is always there in the background, but there is only a small increment from year to year," NIWA principal scientist on climate Dr Brett Mullan said. "In the present case, not only has the sea temperature around New Zealand been much warmer since the start of the year and we had more northerly airflow than normal throughout May, which pushes the temperatures up further. Winter now a month shorter than it was 80 years ago. "Usually one of the best killers of in-sects, and keeping fungus and the like at bay, are very cold winters . . . so we're seeing a lot of pest activity much earlier on in the season and continuing much later into the sea-son because of the weather." Abridged https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/life/113050044/late-blossom-in-south-canterbury-proof-of-a-changing-climate-plant-and-climate-experts-say Warning of Incredible snow event' forecast for Canterbury region 31 May

Snow is falling at Cardrona Skifield near Wanaka . Photo credit : Newshub The Canterbury region has been told to brace for a "major snow event" as a miserable long weekend approaches. Canterbury Weather Updates (CWU) says latest data suggests "incredible" snowfall is on the way to Canterbury. Wintry showers and snow flurries on the ranges continue to batter the Otago region. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/05/weather-incredible-snow-event-forecast-for-canterbury-region-warning-of-damage-to-trees-and-powerlines.html

ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online ...ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online)...

Documents

Transcript of ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online ...ISSN 0111-1736 (Print) ISSN 2624-4640 (Online)...