KEY POINTS:
If you ever notice where the nation's most extreme weather is, you'll often notice a pattern. Places like Mid Dome, Milford, Castlepoint, Brothers Island, Tara Hills, Nugget Point, Takapau Plains, Mt Kaukau, Le Bons Bay and Puysegur Point. Now while these places might be well known to the few people who live there or nearby I bet most of us would struggle to find them on a map (a map without a glossary of course!).
The world's most extreme weather often takes place in areas where no one lives... or rather, no one lives where extreme weather most often happens. For example, I was looking at the weather forecast for the world's northern most airport - Alert, in Canada (don't ask why I was looking... lets just say I don't have much on my social calendar at the moment!). This small town with just a handful of government employees, is located at the north eastern tip of Canada well inside the arctic circle. Their HIGH a few weeks ago, without windchill, was -40 degrees! Add windchill and you could be looking at -65. You'd be dead within a couple minutes exposed to that.
Back in New Zealand (and in fact most places in the world) when it comes to our daily temperatures most readings are taken from airports - exposed areas of land often near water. When we hear that Napier had the nation's high of 31 degrees it was really the airport that reached that...it was probably 34 in town...maybe even hotter in the central city with all the tar seal and concrete. Similar with strong winds... those who work in Auckland or Wellington will know that a forecast that calls for "light winds" can mean "blustery winds" in the CBD thanks to all the high rise buildings and the air rushing in between them.
With the weekend's storm I often received reports of sleet, snow, hail and gales but according to the airport readings that wasn't the case.
So what's my point here? Well as we grow the Weather Watch Centre we're going to install our own weather stations and place them where YOU live. Our goal isn't to provide scientific data for the government, our goal is to provide you with the current and relevant weather observations from where you're living or working. The purists will argue that the data is 'dirty' ... obs that aren't accurate....but I'd rather know that Auckland's strongest wind gust today was 97km/h on Hobson Street - not 84km/h on Bean Rock (a weather station placed on a lighthouse out on the water!). I'd also rather not have every rain warning issued for Fiordland (which is a rain forest I might add!!) making the news headlines each time they're issued...sure there is a place for it but almost never, in my eyes, should that be a headline news story - save the headlines for relevant weather - this is more important: "how much of that Fiordland rain will make it to the hydro lakes?". That is what sets our Weather Watch Centre apart from the rest... we'll give you that information - relevant information. And if you can't find it, we're only an email away!
For too long New Zealand's weather coverage, on both radio, print and TV has been poor compared to other countries - just the same old same old - but all of that is starting to change. Newstalk ZB and the other Radio Network stations have lifted their game - as has the Herald Online and One News. Research given to the Radio Network shows that the number one reason people switch on a radio station is to listen to the weather forecast. It's not the reason why they continue to listen, but the reason they first switch on is because they want to know "How will the weather affect me today?".
It's why we have 30 weather reporters around the country - they can feel and see what's really happening. In words they can explain it much better than a weather station. It's why we've been adding the "Wind Chill" and "Humidex" temperatures to our news stories - so that we're reflecting what you are really feeling, not what you'd feel if you stood on the grass near the Air NZ terminal in Christchurch in a white box 1 metre above the ground.
Enjoy the frosty weather...the next system will roll in during Thursday in the far south...and Friday/Saturday in the north. More details on Friday.
Philip Duncan
For the latest weather news keep up to date with The Radio Network's new Weather Watch Centre or the NZ Herald weather section.
