You’ve been asking for it, so we’re going to provide it…at least, for some!
Starting next week the Weather Watch Centre will start a trial of weather forecasts for Auckland. We’ve been running this trial on-air on Auckland radio stations EasyMix and Flava for the past 12 months and decided it was about time we put them online too!
The forecasts are written in a style that explains how the weather will affect you. For example, instead of: “Scattered showers, High: 23” it might read as “One or two showers but they’ll be pretty insignificant, High in the low to mid 20s”.
We appreciate this is a different way of doing things but we think this reflects a more accurate way of explaining the weather to you…it’s not just a forecast, it’s how the weather will affect you.
We’d love to do all of New Zealand but our focus still remains to be your only regular weather news source. If the trial goes well we’ll look at adding other centres across the country – and of course our news stories will continue to include weather predictions for all parts of the country.
Thanks for your immense support!
The Weather Watch Team
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Guest on 7/01/2009 9:51pm
Perhaps in Auckland’s weather forecast you could do a ‘feels-like’ temperature to combine temperature and humidity. Most people who come here comment on how hot Auckland is, most of summer it feels alot hotter than the 22 degree forecast…
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WW Forecast Team on 7/01/2009 10:16pm
Absolutely – couldn’t agree more! When relevant we’ll say things like "Today’s high in the low 20s but with humidity it’ll feel more like 28" that type of thing. Same thing with the wind chill.
Also, because Auckland is so large, we’re going to have temperature ranges… it’s rare that one side of Auckland is the same as the other so you’ll see a lot more of "Today’s high in the upper teens" or "Today’s high 24-26 degrees" that type of thing.
We’ll also take into consideration sea breezes, buildings etc. Obviously these temperatures are no good for scientific data! It’s more about how the weather will affect you I guess.
Cheers
Phil
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Barrie Herlihy on 7/01/2009 8:00pm
I am a Principal Rural Fire Officer in South Waikato and find that Philip Duncan and his team provide great weather information that I read at least twice daily.
Rural people are generally very co-operative and they do not burn vegetion with out my permission. Sadly my concern is the people that burn without a permit and often lose control of a fire. Perhaps Federated Farmers should have your reports on their web site. If we experienced the Canterbury temperatures up here in the Waikato I would have a total fire ban on.
Thanks Team.
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WW Forecast Team on 7/01/2009 8:26pm
Hi Barrie – thanks very much for your feedback and support – it means a great deal if we can help you in any way possible. I don’t know of anyone at Federated Farmers but if you do (or any readers do) please do point them in our direction. We’d be very happy to work closely with FF and also the Fire Service.
Thanks again for the feedback/support – it really is appreciated by everyone here at Weather Watch.
Cheers
Philip Duncan
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John Mathieson on 6/01/2009 8:27pm
It would be nice to offer some relief to the wind blown parched Canterbury people by advising that this weekend offers cooler easterly conditions with cloud and risk of coastal drizzle and light rain north of Ashburton. The weekend scenario places rising pressures south and southeast of Otago–and lowering pressures near Bay of Plenty. A keen southeast to east flow over the east coast north of ChCh and over the Nth Island is the result. Rain affects the north and east of the Nth Island this weekend—heaviest in the eastern ranges of Gisborne and central districts. Moist and humid sums up the Nth Islands outlook for Saturday and Sunday coming. Believe it or not!
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WW Forecast Team on 6/01/2009 10:18pm
Thanks for that John and we will be advising folk of the change shortly. I’m not sure how much moisture Cantabrians will see out of the change but further north as you say, it maybe more fruitful!
The biggest issue presently is the hot fohn winds affecting Canterbury with Christchurch now on 30 degrees with a norwester still hammering away. The fire risk is an obvious concern but with the cooler change late on Friday should alleviate it somewhat, if we do get a decent amount of precipitation with it too.
It will be good to see some relief over the weekend and respite from the heat for some too.
Cheers
Richard Green
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