The Government forecaster is not concerned with public safety, it is all about profit. Their bragging about being one of the best re weather warnings is bullshit in its extreme. I have crap loads of examples of that and have been steadily documentng it for a while now. That is exactly why I went to NIWA for help, deplorable conditions and some potentially very dangerous stuff and never warned. NIWA was great when it came to ensuring that the other forecaster would be warning us in future. But should unwarned updraft storms and big blastings continue, then look out, as I have come to the end of my tolerance of being hit by unwarned destructive and potentially very dangerous weather. Unwarned 3mm/minute rain, unwarned 130 km/h gusts, and since 2009, unwarned polar systems with sleet, snow, hail and wind chill way below 0C. Public safety my butt. WeatherWatch is far superior with its early warnings re the big systems and because of that I take the mostly notice of them.  Just unfortunate we are so orographic, as it makes viewing the Govt maps, trough locations and Wgtn forecasts compulsory for here.

I think we are in for yet another cold night in Paekok. The day cleared nicely, but with low Cirrus. Odd circulation this morning, ENE coming out of the hills by McKays, then turning into the escarpment above us, so it was rotating around both of the Akatarawa mountains here. The northerly has been deteriorating for a while here, getting more and more orographic, (NE) and favouring whatever is out east of NZ, like troughs. You can see the N blowing along the hill tops here towards Wgtn, with the easterlies blasting in over top of it. If the N isn’t trapped, it can kick off big hill tornadoes with the convection from that. I’m picking it’ll eventually affect Wellington too as it worsens here. The best situation for us is when the N is trapped underneath a ridge top inversion which makes it really blast towards Wgtn, but calm and warm here. Today NE/E still, but with cool breezes from the east and south too. The wind is fairly cool so good thing it is light, otherwise it’d be brrr. Humidity dropped sharply this evening, down to 50% at 1830 hrs, which will make it cold tonight and maybe an inversion ex the mountains even if this persists. Pram is 73%, so no relationship to us. We’ve had two frosts this year which is crazy mad. It really feels and looks like Autumn with the cold nights and mountain drainage. Fingers crossed for sea breezes if it heats up tomorrow … SW relief, Cook Strait will up the humidity. Oh Auckland, for just a wee bit of your humidity, just a drop of it. 

Looks like another easterly final cycle for the guys and girls in the Coast to Coast.  I thought the WW people may have had more (or at least some) preview of the conditions for the race as the weather has such a huge influence on racing conditions.  Think of the inland heat, creek and river levels in the run and kayak, the west coast rain, and the constant killer for all cyclists – the wind!  Seems like an ideal event for WW to get behind and show off their skills with – but guess it isn’t ‘local’ enough for you guys as the many of your followers are Auckland based?  Maybe next year.