Strong high, settled weekend

The weather is certainly quiet at the moment so this week I took a little time out to work on a blog for next Monday. Considering the overwhelming response to my global warming piece last week I thought it would be a good idea to talk to NIWA and a few other experts out there. I was also sent a very indepth article which dispels a few of the global warming theories. More about that on Monday - there's quite a bit of info for me to sort through.

Back to the weather here in New Zealand. We have an incredibly strong high over us. People checking their barometers are recording readings over 1030hPa. This big high is firmly standing over New Zealand and will ensure a mostly sunny, settled, weekend... and some cold starts! As I write this at 6am Friday it's just 5 degrees in parts of Auckland and already freezing in Canterbury and Otago.

A comment posted at the Weather Watch Centre the other day pointed out that not all highs are sunny. Aucklanders will know this best. There's this thing called "Anticyclonic gloom"...and it's as exciting as the name suggests. I won't get all detailed but basically cool air, warmer seas below and little wind combine to create low cloud, even drizzle or showers, which don't clear away fast as they're trapped under the 'lid' of high air pressure, with no wind to blow it away. In Auckland this happens quite often in winter especially when the centre of the high is drifting in from the west or south west off the Tasman Sea.

 

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Of course inland you don't have this problem... but fog can be an issue. When the pressure is high enough the clouds get pushed down low...when it forms at ground level we call it fog. The high over New Zealand this weekend will create fog patches in the usual places... and perhaps some coastal clouds too. However I think most of the country will enjoy plenty of sunny, calm, weather. Not a bad way to end daylight savings.

But these cold mornings are a shock to the system. Temperatures at this time of year are plummeting at night... from around 20 degrees in the afternoon to close to zero in many areas. Yesterday it was 2 degrees in Hamilton at sunrise and - 1 in Christchurch. Other centres in between were chilly too. This morning is even colder.

There is some severe weather on the way late this weekend or early next week... the back end of this high will see strong nor'westers developing over the South Island - gales are likely inland. Meanwhile on the West Coast heavy rain is expected too. MetService is watching this closely and may well issue rain and wind warnings this weekend.

Finally - I'm starting to get asked about Easter Weekend. We're still a week away but WeatherWatch.co.nz has created a special Easter Weekend weather link. We'll track the weather forecasts over the next week and increase our updates and the detail of the forecasts as we get closer to the long weekend. I'll also have an indepth forecast here later next week.

Don't forget to put your clocks back an hour on Saturday before you go to bed....fall back an hour in fall...spring forward an hour in spring. Excellent...a 49 hour weekend.

Philip Duncan

 

Photo / Paul Estcourt