KEY POINTS:
Boy can you believe this weather?
After nothing to talk about from October 2007 until March 2008 (apart from the dought of course) our weather has gone into crazy mode.
Starting in April with torrential rains over Northland and Central Plateau, then snow storms in June then big
frosts in early July and now 3 storms in 7 days - 2 of which considered "major" even by the most conservative of forecasters.
It's been a rough week for forecasters - a mix of adrenaline for something that draws us to the job in the first place and exhaustion from the little sleep we get as we watch them develop. I would say last Saturday was the busiest day of my life feeding updates to the Weather Watch Centre from 6am Saturday until 2am on Sunday.
I have been absolutely astounded by the incredible feedback from every day kiwis right across New Zealand - and from family members across the world, including Spain and the UK. When I floated the idea of the Weather Watch Centre a few years ago a number of colleagues said the weather was boring.
Well on Saturday I think I proved them wrong - the weather isn't, by a long shot, boring. Well, okay maybe 6 months of dry weather got a bit boring to talk about, but you get my point!! The weather excites many of us in a strange, but I think natural, way.
Photos sent in to me and photos sent into nzherald.co.nz were from all walks off life. Young guys, older ladies, families, single people, weather geeks and weather nuts (believe me, there is a difference) and they were showing people embracing the wild weather.
In fact one post at weatherwatch.co.nz from someone called Andrew claimed he was disappointed that the storm wasn't bigger in Auckland. "Some people may think I'm crazy but I was actually disappointed in the storm Saturday night! I live in Pakuranga in Auckland & had been preparing for a doozey but it didn't really eventuate into anything substantial in my area". Marg replied with "Yes, you are crazy! Next time perhaps you'd like to go North or East and help clear up the debris on the beaches or sawing up 2 huge trees that came down on my property. Thank your lucky stars". Then Leigh followed up with "I'm with you Andrew. I expected more and got less. Better luck next time!"
For those of you who hate wild weather (and I doubt many of you are probably reading a weather blog!) this is incredibly common here in NZ - people get disappointed when a storm doesn't hit hard - and I'll admit, I'm one of them. It's a tough thing to like, you don't for a second want that storm to harm anyone, but at the same time experiencing a huge storm is an adrenaline rush of fear and excitment.
From time spent in hurricane forums in the United States, American's don't seem to share this enthusiasm for big storms - and it's quite clear why. They are far more deadly and destructive there. Even our biggest and most violent storms don't last long in New Zealand, plus we're too far south for full strength Tropical Cyclones and a bit too far north for major polar storms.
Our severe weather is usually short lived and isolated, not always of course, but usually. We don't see large towns completely destroyed or entire citys under water. So i guess we lack the fear because many of us haven't truly experienced nature's full fury.
Thanks for the comments here and at the Weather Watch Centre. They are truly appreciated and so much fun to read. It's great to see so many people are passionately interested in this topic.
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.
Pictured above: Sea wash on Tamaki Drive. Photo / Robert Trathen