Here Winds Rose to become Strong which they still are from the SW with the weather varying from PC to 8/8 all day.Temp 15 to 22°

Wellington 20° with winds grdually becoming fresh at times from the South

Christchurch dry with a moderate NE high 18°

Cloudy in most areas with but fine in the BOP and Gisborne,clearing over most of the SI apart from showers in the south with WSW

Can see that Auckland is currently on 212 hours of sunshine so far this month - just had a look at the live web cam of Auckland - shows mainly blue skies with few clouds atm.

This report from NZ Herald - seems like only Auckland and Palmerston North are the only warm centres in NZ this month with all other centres below the norm.

As reported in the NZ Herald:-

While New Zealand is basking in a lovely February, the "hot" weather to date has been slightly cooler than averages for the month.

Niwa climatologist Stuart Burgess has supplied figures to the Herald which show the temperatures recorded at most airports so far are slightly below the 30-year average. While at Auckland Airport the average February temperature to date has matched the 24C average, other centres such as Hamilton, Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin were slightly lower.

Bucking the trend, Palmerston North has been 0.5C warmer than usual with temperatures so far averaging 23.7C.

Normal rainfall was also expected in the next couple of months but Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Gisborne could be drier than usual.

Everyone should watch this

Toni Marsh is a weather presenter on Tv 3 in NZ. And Augie Auwer (sp) is an ex weather presenter on tv 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxlM3F1Tzgk

224.7 for W'gton y'day, prob. up to 235 at end-today. A generally dry sunny month. I expect temps. will be near-normal overall by month's-end.

Would this be rare for Invercargill to have a "Fire Ban" ??? Can anyone give more information on this ? Thanks.

Report from the Southland Times today.

Continuing hot weather prompts fire ban in south
By JARED MORGAN - The Southland Times | Wednesday, 28 February 2007

HOT TOPIC: Southland District Council principal fire officer Mike Grant changing the fire danger sign at Lorneville. A complete fire ban comes into force for Southland today.

A total fire ban for Southland and parts of the Clutha district comes into force from 8am today as warm weather and strong winds increase the risk of fire.

Southern Rural Fire District principal rural fire officer Mike Grant, of Invercargill, said this meant no fires were allowed to be lit in the open.

The ban suspends all existing fire permits but gas barbecues and cookers are exempt.

Continued hot and dry conditions throughout the region meant the fire risk was high to very high throughout almost all Southland and similar conditions were forecast to continue pushing the fire danger into the extreme range, Mr Grant said.

This made activities such as using chainsaws, mowers or tractors potentially hazardous.

"Anyone using machinery in dry grass should have water on hand to dampen down the area beforehand and to extinguish any sparks," Mr Grant said.

The ban also applies to all townships within the Southland and Gore districts and in Invercargill city and means people in those areas cannot burn rubbish, even in incinerators, or use open braziers to cook outdoors.

There would have to be significant rain over an extended period before the ban would be lifted, Mr Grant said.

If areas continued to dry out, restrictions could be imposed on activities that had a high risk of causing fires, he said.

"The ban has been imposed for public safety."

A fire ban will also be placed on all areas of the Queenstown Lakes District, including all townships and DOC land, from today.

A total fire ban was put in place in Central Otago on February 15, replacing the restricted fire season imposed every summer.

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt, of Wellington, said Central Otago and Queenstown had been dry this month.

Mr McDavitt also said Southland had received only about half its average rainfall with 30mm this month while Queenstown had received 12mm and Central Otago just 10mm.

Areas like Northburn and Clyde were both registering extremely high on the drought code, he said.

Auckland could use a big drink
NZ Herald Wednesday February 28, 2007
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie

Auckland has been hit by drought conditions with just half the normal rainfall levels expected in February, forcing vegetable growers to adopt emergency measures to save their crops.

MetService figures show Auckland - which usually has around 80mm of rain in February - has had just 35mm so far.

Whangaparaoa Peninsula was the country's driest area during past weeks, with no rain at all since February 7.

Central parts of the North Island were rain-free since February 8.

In the South Island, Nelson Airport topped the list of dry zones, with no rain since February 12.

The driest February on record for Auckland was in 2000 when just 8mm of rain was recorded. The wettest February was in 1967 with 232mm of rain.

The dry conditions are taking a toll.

Pukekohe Growers agronomist Shane Smith said vegetable growers were irrigating crops "flat out" and were struggling to get around them quick enough.

Mr Smith said the vegetables grown outdoors were stressed.


He said the conditions had an upside for potato lovers - they were more flavoursome when water was slowly absorbed.

Metrowater said dam levels were average for this time of year but residents in areas with water tanks were running low on water.

Mike Stuart, who lives in Maraetai, southeast of Auckland, bought water last week for the first time in three years.

"The tankers are always around a little bit but you know when its getting dry because the tankers are just everywhere," he said.

His family had shortened showers and stopped watering the garden.

Waitakere rural fire officer Karl Nuttall said the heavy dowsing of rain before Christmas had kept down the fire danger in West Auckland.

"Ours is only just climbing into that moderate area."

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt predicted a few showers for parts of Auckland tomorrow but the city would dry up again with a high pressure system forecast to dominate over much of the country until the weekend.

"At this stage the seasonal outlook is that March will bring more anticyclones, mixed with frontal systems.

"We will also be vulnerable to low-pressure systems moving in from the north."

Mr McDavitt said some people considered tomorrow to be the first day of autumn but he regarded the equinox on March 21 as the change of season.

Rainfall

* 35mm Rain this month

* 80mm Auckland's average rainfall for February

Article Ends.


Regarding the wettest and driest Feb on record for Auckland - the wettest Feb was 277mm in Feb 2004 and the driest was 0.0mm in 1909 - I dont know where whoever wrote this article got thier figures from.

The 35mm reading was taken at the airport - 31mm of this fell on 1 day during a thunderstorm. Other parts of Auckland missed out on this storm with many suburbs recording less than 10mm.

Here is February's 2007 Climate Summary.

http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncc/cs/0702sum.pdf

A month of prevailing SE winds with record-near record high sunshine in the west of the South Island.

Out of all 5 main centres Auckland was the warmest and driest with only 9mm recorded at Owairaka (A suburb in Auckland metro area) and 228 hours of sunshine.

Ranfurly in Central Otago recorded no measurable rain at all (0.0mm)

Wellington was the sunniest of the "main 5" (239 hrs), but 0.6C below normal.

The Auckland discrepancy you quoted - probably their version is for a site with shorter records. Auckland has an issue with lack of site continuity.

Summer seasonal summary [rather brief]:

http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncc/cs/sclimsum_07_1_summer.pdf

Auckland still comes out tops - the low temps- would be mainly due to Dec. 2006. Auckland recorded only 48% of its normal summer rainfall and is the sunniest of all 5 main centres.

The sunniest of all sites for this summer will be hard to guess in advance - Nelson low in Jan., Hokitika won't be too far off the pace. An unusual season.

Looking at various reports - sounds like NZ is enjoying some much warmer temps with sunnier days than was experienced during the 06/07 "Summer". Do you think you Kiwis will have an "Indian" autumn to compenstate for the cool summer?

Fair chance for March I think. April - anyone's guess, though NIWA and Blue Skies both hint it may be a bit warmer and drier than average in the east.

Of interest to rainfan perhaps: Wellington annual data for 2006 (Kelburn site, records back to 1928).

Rainfall at 1579mm was highest since 1979 [even so, the average for the last 25 years is now 1189mm, significantly lower than the longterm average of around 1245mm].

Raindays of 1mm or more were 148 (average 124) - highest since 1979 also.

Mean Temp. was a little down on normal - by just under 0.2C - but a little higher than 2004. 1998-2005 were (otherwise) much warmer.

Sunshine at 2159 hrs was above the 1971-2000 mean of 2065.

Windiness as measured by the average maximum daily gust was the highest since 1983 (2005 was the lowest of records going back to 1972) - but 6 years in the period 1972-1983 had comparable values.

Mean MSLP for the year was just a little below normal.

Overall I rated it 28th of the 35 years 1972-2006; of the lower ones, 1992 was poorest while the other 6 below 2006 all occurred during the decade 1974-1983. 2004 ranked 27th, 2005 1st.

The tides are finally turning, the slight drought in western and northern areas of the North Island should be prospered slightly with a complex trough of low pressure giving outbreaks of rain and storms.
Strong west to southwesterly change behind the low.. looks good for thunder and hail chances for Canterbury and Otago.

Last week has been exceptionally warm due to the drying soils, Hamner Springs reached 35C the other day with a foehn nor'wester.. here in Hamilton we got our highest temp of summer so far with 28C.

Here we had overnight rain and then showers with fresh Westerlies but unfortunately they tured SW and Rose To Gale Force about 3pm.low 16 High 22°

Wellington Gale NW slowly easing with rain also easing 21°

Christchurch warm overnight but cold strong SW and max afternoon 13°
Dunedin similar SW and high 11°
Rain spread south overnight to all areas but eased in the east especially in the NI

As one might expect from NZASS's usual BS posts, there were no gales in either Auckland (max winds 23 kts) or Wellington (max winds 20 kts) today, although perhaps a little gusty. (A new thermometer probably also wouldn't go amiss)

However, tomorrow may be a different story...

The weather in W'gton has been a non-event so far - a little light rain, no noteworthy windiness so far. Tomorrow - may be different.

Dev. How come the NZ Herald today says up to 6pm yesterday for max.wind SW 67kmh,Wellington N 67Kmh