Thank you

Thanks to the Titahi Bay residents for hosting an event last night in honour of all those who assisted in dealing with the fire in Whitireia Park. Several firefighters commented that they'd never received that level of appreciation from a community before. It was quite touching. They were really rather chuffed with the certificates (and the great food). I know our certificate will be proudly displayed on the wall.

We can handle it

So we have this weather warning for severe gales & probably some heavy rain. Some very similar weather happened on Monday too. It caused a few problems here & there - http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3490778/Gale-force-winds-cause-havoc - but in the grand scheme of things, not all that bad.

Compare that with what happened in Perth recently - http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/3497715/Perth-cleans-up-after-freak-storm. Sounds much more exciting than ours, but then I saw the numbers - "The Meteorological Service said recorded wind gusts of more than 120km/h and 35mm of rain within about eight hours on Monday." Hang on, that sounds almost like a typical day in Wellington, doesn't it?

There aren't that many places where you'll often hear the weather report of "winds easing to gale force," but Wellington is one of them. 35mm of rain in eight hours? We can have 80-100mm overnight in some events, and yet our infrastructure seems to handle it relatively well. Mind you, we don't get golf ball-sized hail very often, I can imagine that might change the game a bit.

I guess I'm just glad to be living in a city that's designed to handle some pretty impressive weather. It would be odd living somewhere that counted 120km gusts and 35mm of rain as a freak event. I like having an annual rainfall that can be measured in metres.

Same again

Tomorrow's weather looks to be repeat of Monday's - severe gales (gusting to 130km/h this time) and heavy rain & possible thunderstorms for the Tararuas. I wouldn't recommend going tramping...

Some windy (and rainy) weather on the way

The MetService has issued a Severe Weather Warning for Wellington & southern Wairarapa for northwest gales tomorrow (Monday) afternoon & early evening, with winds gusting to 120km/h in exposed places. Take extra care when driving high-sided vehicles & motorbikes. Secure anything that may blow around on your property, especially anything that caused problems in the wind storm the other week. If you have problems with your roof lifting, call the Fire Service.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3481936/Heavy-rain-down-south-gales-for-Wellington-forecast

EDIT: And also a heavy rain warning for the Tararuas too.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3485209/Weather-warning-for-Wellington

Be careful what you wish for

First we had the big fire at Whitireia Park, the next weekend we had a tsunami caused by the Chilean quake (we actually got a 40cm peak to trough surge in Porirua Harbour), and the following Friday I rather jokingly mused that since we'd had fire, and earth & water, tornadoes would probably be on the schedule for that weekend, because if we were going by the elemental theme, wind was next.

I was only a week off on the tornadoes...

It wasn't a request! I was joking! Geez...

Paekakariki Hill Road closed

Paekakariki Hill Road is currently closed. It will be closed for at least the next 6 hours, as it's going to take that long for someone from the power company to get there.

Drive safely.

Getting very windy!

Just hearing reports of roofs lifting in Lyall Bay, a mini tornado in Karori, power lines down in Island Bay, a shed blown onto the road in Brooklyn, windows blown in here & there, trees down, chunks of roofing off of buildings, hail.

Batten down the hatches, folks!

EDIT: Well, that hit with a hell of a bang! While I was on the phone to the forecasters at the Metservice, in fact. Metservice doesn't expect it to last too long thankfully, just a couple of hours - another missed event, Bob?

Please, please, please be careful on the roads out there, there have been a whole bunch of motor vehicle accidents already.

EDIT: 5:42 - Here's the Stuff article about it so far - http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3441447/Wild-weather-blasts-central-New-Zealand

3.4? Ooh scary...

So New South Wales in Australia experienced an earthquake of magnitude 3.4. http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/3439867/Earthquake-hits-New-South-Wales

Candice Neat, a resident of Hawks Nest, south of Seal Rocks, said she was woken
up by the quake. "We were rocking in our beds and the windows were shaking," she
told the Seven Network's Sunrise programme. "It was a bit scary, we didn't know
what was happening."

Crikey!

I had to laugh. I slept right through the last quake we had round here, and it measured 5.0. I guess it's an illustration of how accustomed to earthquakes we are in NZ. A 3.4 here would barely get a paragraph on Stuff, and maybe I'd mention it here if it was localised enough.

Ah, that explains it

I had wondered why the first message that came through about the Chilean quake & tsunami was a "No Threat to NZ". The initial reports from the USGS were that it was only 8.2, had occurred on land, and was deeper than the threshold that triggers a tsunami warning.

Titahi Bay fire finally out

The fire which started at 16:20 on 21 February was finally declared extinguished at noon on Monday 1 March. It burned 72.4 hectares of mostly gorse and coastal vegetation, and the final cost has still to be calculated.

Thanks again to everyone involved in putting out that fire, it was great to see everyone working so well together when the going got tough.

And here's a terrible picture of me from the 22nd, looking absolutely filthy! Those overalls started out a nice bright yellow, you know... Took me half an hour to scrub myself clean again - the soot had worked its way through to the skin.

Advisory cancelled

Issued at 0835 hours on 01/03/2010.

Issued by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM).

Tsunami advisory cancelled:
Based on scientific assessment a decision has been made to cancel the Tsunami Advisory in place over night. Sea level data indicate the peak of activity has passed. There will be ongoing sea level fluctuations and tidal effects for the rest of the day throughout the country. People are advised to continue to take caution in coastal areas.