Science Centres: Climate
September
August's climate
Global setting and climate outlook
Feature article
The Northland floods of July 2007. (Photo: Northland CDEM Group)
Number of rain-days per month near Kawakawa, Northland.
Data series for May only.
Rain-days in Kawakawa
It is often useful to ‘visualise’ the variability of meteorological data by using a diagram format invented by Danish meteorologist Ernest Hovmöller (who incidentally passed away this year). The larger figure (right), usually called a ‘Hovmöller diagram’, shows the number of rain-days per month near Kawakawa, Northland.
New Zealand climate in August
Rainfall (click to enlarge).
Temperature (click to enlarge).
Well above normal rainfall for August was recorded in Marlborough (especially Kaikoura), Canterbury, Tasman, eastern Southland, and the majority of the North Island; Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, parts of the Southern Alps, Central Otago, and Fiordland were drier than normal.
Temperatures were average to above average in the North Island and average to below in the South Island.
Global setting and climate outlook
El Niño-Southern Oscillation remains neutral
Difference from average global SST (click to enlarge).
Monthly SOI values (click to enlarge).
Neutral conditions now prevail in the tropical Pacific and are likely to continue through to summer. Some warm surface water is showing up along the Equator near South America, but this layer of warm water is shallow. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is positive at +0.8, with the three-month mean also slightly positive.
A monthly newsletter from the National Climate Centre.
September 2008 – Number 111
August climate – above average rainfall in central areas but drier than normal in Gisborne and the southwest of the South Island. Cool in the south.
Outlook for September to November – lower rainfall, river flows, and soil moisture than normal in the southwest of the South Island.
