It’s difficult to do a weather-based prank for April Fools Day.  In my many years working in radio I’ve been involved in a number of April Fools pranks…some worked well, others…did not.

In fact I even received a death threat from one that sort of backfired when I worked for a radio station in Taupo in the 90s.  Word of advice – don’t ever say Mt Ruapehu is erupting when it isn’t…especially when the weather that morning was so cold that a plume of steam was seen rising up from it and looked like a small ash cloud.  You live and you learn.  I still feel bad about that one.

So learning from that mistake and spending much of last night wondering what joke we could pull on you all we realised it’s simply not worth it.  Too risky.

I love humour…but writing about the weather in a funny way is quite different to fooling people with a forecast.  I thought about predicting a freak snow storm for Wellington – or even Auckland – but there’s one problem – credibility. 

It’s fine if you’re a company that sells tea and you suggest that if you cut out this newspaper coupon and dunk it in your hot water so you can sample the tea.  (I loved that one by the way!).  

But if you’re a forecaster and you’re making up fake weather forecasts it might shoot you in the foot.

Have Your Say – What’s your favourite April Fools Day prank (doesn’t have to be weather related).

Blog by head weather analyst Philip Duncan