the calm in between storms

All eyes are on the weather maps and webcams. There's been some serious weather brewing below NZ and is set to start crossing over the South Island today. It's still looking like snow well into the weekend. Down south people are hiking and getting in first turns of the season too. Pictures below are from this link: volcano watch

Whakapapa side of Ruapehu

volcano vista and the Desert Road - view from the east

Autumn Storm...

A dirty looking sequence of weather is about to hit and more snow is on the way. The Met Service predictions for the next few days till the weekend say the freezing level is set to drop to 1400-1800m. Could be just the autumn storm we need to continue to cool things down.

Here's how things looked last night - watch this space...

Crazy Weather

The past few days have been quite humid here in Auckland, temps in the late teens, some days the high got to the early 20's... Yesterday it rained solidly all day, it was grey, and the temperature barely broke 10 degrees C. No other way to describe it - it was cold! Last night the cloud broke revealing stars and a promise of the sunny day to come. I checked the volcano cam and the cloud had lifted at Ruapehu too. Ooooo, is that a dusting of fresh snow I see? :)

Today was shorts weather again. There was some swell on the East Coast, so we ventured as far north as Orewa where there were some very clean and tidy waves in the morning. Everyone was out: short and long boarders, SUP's (stand up paddlers), outriggers, surf club members out on the surf skis, and someone out the back 'skurfing'. Although it was crowded, everyone had smiles in the sun after the horrible day yesterday.

The best part for me was the view from the surf club as we had a beer afterwards. I think I even got sunburnt today, whoops. Oh well, it's an early start to the goggle tan...