‘Binging rain’ ruins New Zealanders’ summer plans.new zealand

T.Hey, it wasn’t the hazy days I wanted new zealand summer. Auckland beaches were slapped with no-swimming warnings as an overwhelmed rainwater system pumped sewage into the harbor. . Roads to popular northern vacation spots promised sun-kissed beach days as sinkholes opened up after rainfall, circling drainage ditches along the silt and rainwater.

“Seasonal affective disorder should be renamed affective disorder living in New Zealand,” one person tweeted as clouds and thunderstorms swept across the North Island.

“A disappointing start to summer,” proclaimed the television channel Newshub. An even more disastrous period ensued as Cyclone Hail hit the east coast and vacationers packed away their tents and sun hats and jammed the northern highways on their early morning return trips.

For many New Zealanders, the country’s cherished post-Christmas summer vacation was a week of constant rain.

As the storm marches on, weather forecaster Metservice said, “We expect a difficult January this year. By mid-January, Auckland – home to over a third of New Zealand’s population – had only about 26 hours of bright sunshine for the entire month, just 28% of its normal amount. Across the North Island and the upper South, daylight hours were well below average.

“It rains a lot. I wake up and it’s raining and it’s raining again,” said Colin, who is from Oakland and works in parks and landscaping.

He was driving from Auckland to Cambridge for his summer vacation when the tail end of Cyclone Hale hit. “The heavens just opened and it was like the deluge in the Bible. I’ve never seen that before,” he says. The family walked around Hobbiton in the rain the day after their vacation after watching the floodwaters pile up along the highway.

The situation was a particularly unpleasant surprise for those returning from the northern hemisphere to savor the New Zealand summer. Especially after a few years when the country shut down due to Covid restrictions.

‘I’m back in NZ after 22 years…hoping for a better summer!’

While much of the country has accepted the unusually wet season as an unwelcome anomaly, weather conditions have been able to taste a broader, longer-term trend in New Zealand weather. A warm, moist wind from the northeast contributed to heavy rains from the north and the arrival of the cyclone. But as the climate crisis continues, seasons and regions are likely to fluctuate more violently between droughts and deluges, and lighter patterns of summer rains will lead to more destructive and irregular water drops from the sky. increasingly replaced.

In January, atmospheric science group NIWA announced that 2022 was the hottest year on record for New Zealand. Eighth ‘unusually wet’ year – An indicator that measures how much rainfall in each region deviates from the norm. According to NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino, these two measurements (heat and humidity) are intertwined. As temperatures rise, more water evaporates into steam, and when clouds break, heavy rains fall.

“An analogy I often use is binge rain,” says Brandolino. Here’s an atmospheric version of him consuming an entire Netflix season in one day. Last year’s “abnormally wet” conditions mimicked that trend, Brandolino said.

“Average over a year, [the rains] Don’t look too unusual. But when I look at the individual events that help me reach that final number at the end of the year, I say, ‘Oh, wow. “

The wet summer season has not felt exceptional across New Zealand. Some areas of the sparsely populated South Island experience well below average rainfall, with up to 130 mm of water deficit.

However, throughout the year New Zealand got more rain in normally dry areasA 1-in-120-year rainfall west of Nelson received nearly 700 mm of rain per month. This is four times normal. Rainfall in areas unprepared for regular flooding can be devastating.

“Monsoon Rain Swimming Ecstasy”

Some people accept torrential rain. Surfers are out on swollen rivers, and newspapers feature what to do on rainy summer vacations.

Auckland researcher Tze Ming Mok said: Her summer smells and her touch reminded her more and more of Singapore. “Misleadingly Pleasant Side Effects of Catastrophic Climate Change”.

However, for many New Zealanders, the prospect of long-term change in New Zealand summers is not a welcome one. Colin, who works outdoors as a landscaper, says extremes become apparent as the years go by.

“I used to have periods [over summer] A place where it was calm and you could go out and do something… [now] Some days it’s crazy hot, some days it’s pouring down. “

When it’s not raining, “I feel like I’m cooking,” he says.