The weather with you
Name: Bob McDavitt
Occupation: Weather Ambassador, MetService.
Age: 59
Place I call home: Where I sleep.
My passions are: Weather – in particular: clouds. And star and planets, and ocean voyaging.
My hero is: Captain James Cook and the fictional Captain James Kirk.
If I were reincarnated I’d be: Sir Peter Blake.
Why are you passionate about the weather? Weather is a wonderful mix of pattern and chaos. We can understand the patterns but they never repeat exactly. Weather also has a daily impact on our mood and behaviour, and what we do. If we could learn its rhythms and work within them, things would go a lot smoother.
You grew up in the capital. What are the key characteristics of Wellington weather? I remember reading the Arthur Mee Encyclopedia Mum had got for us kids and coming across B for the Beaufort code. The page had diagrams describing various wind speeds. For storm it had uprooted trees and the text “rarely experienced on land.” I looked outside at the 50 knots we were having that day and decided that Beaufort had never been to Wellington. Wellington’s key characteristic is that it copes with strong winds because anything that could get blown away already has been.
We still can’t believe it snowed in Wellington. What was going on there? Weak roaring 40s at the coldest time of the year. Arrange for a Low to depart to south and east of NZ and then to stall. Then bring in and build an intense high-pressure system over or just south of Tasmania. Then stir like an eggbeater. That’s the recipe and it’ll make snow in Wellington every time. Since it requires a High to build south of Tasmania, you’ll only find this recipe in the La Nina cookbook, not the El Nino cookbook.
Air pollution is rarely a problem in Wellington. Why else should we embrace the wind? Wellington harbour is usually sheltered from the larger ocean swells but often has a spirited wind – this combination is great for sailboats. Wind can be used as a natural resource. As for reading the weather - did you know that the wind through Cook Strait (and hence in Wellington) responds quickly to any change in weather in the entire Tasman Sea, so reading it is like reading a large weather map with a detective’s magnifying glass?
Spring has sprung! What can we expect for the next six weeks? A prolificacy of highs. The anticyclones on the weather map are likely to be seen more than normal and are likely to cross the Tasman Sea and may linger when east or southeast of NZ. The rambunctious westerly quarter winds of the roaring 40s should still have their own days to do their stuff, but overall impact could be for fewer than normal of those gusty wet days winds. And a polar blast can occur in any month of the year.
What’s the most memorable New Zealand weather event of the past year? The storm surge in Auckland on 23 Jan 2011, when the sea flooded inland along the coast, with strong winds and tides. And the snowy Wellington August.
Do you ever refrain from looking at forecasting the weather just to get a wee surprise when you wake up in the morning? The more data you have the better your learning curve.
What’s your favorite weather? Camelot.
Are you looking forward to summer? I like summer humidity, and Auckland/Northland are good places to deliver this - but I’m not fond of mosquitoes. I like my daily temperature range to be between 15 and 30 C.
When it’s sunny I like to: Visit a beach. I do NOT like UV, but yes, I do like sunshine.
My next project is: To be the weather guide for Australian yachtsman Maurice Contessi as he sails around the world solo non-stop, raising funds for seeking a cure to motor neurone disease.










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