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I don't have a great understanding of New Zealand from a climatic point of view. Can any of you guys give a general summary of the climate in that little corner of the world? I'm particularly interested in the variations. Hottest places, coldest places, sunshine & rainfall patterns, etc.
Think of the climate and topography of the West Coast of the United States, running from north to south and project that onto New Zealand, going from south to north. And add some funny kinds of plants and birds and take away the animals, except some feral deer, rabbits and other rodents.
The mountains tend to rise sharply on the west coast, creating a strong orographic effect, and one of the highest annual rainfalls/snowfalls in the world. It also produces a strong rain shadow effect, probably the most pronounced one in the world, when amounts are considered. The rainfall pattern is varied , with every season being the wettest somewhere, but a subdued Mediterranean pattern is the most common. Thunder is rare in some areas, and even the highest areas see only around 25 days a year. Sea level snow is infrequent in the south, to very rare in the north. but heavy snowson the west coast see glaciers down to 300m at about the same latitude as northern Spain.
Surely the biggest rain shadow effect is in Hawaii?
Surely the biggest rain shadow effect is in Hawaii?
Hawaii is the only other place that would be comparable, but even though there is rainfall ranging from 10200mm to 204mm, it's hard to get a sense of how close that drier area is, as it only shows up on colour maps, as 200-700mm. The two extremes are on different islands.
NZ's official extreme is 11600mm/580mm over 60km, at around 43"S, but I was specifically thinking of a region that doesn't have official records, but is still speculated to be 13500mm/350mm over 80km, at around 45"S
Hawaii is the only other place that would be comparable, but even though there is rainfall ranging from 10200mm to 204mm, it's hard to get a sense of how close that drier area is, as it only shows up on colour maps, as 200-700mm. The two extremes are on different islands.
NZ's official extreme is 11600mm/580mm over 60km, at around 43"S, but I was specifically thinking of a region that doesn't have official records, but is still speculated to be 13500mm/350mm over 80km, at around 45"S
Maui is 64km long. Wettest and driest places look to be about 30km apart?
This topic might be a good idea for its own thread.
Yep, I've seen the map now. It is a very pronounced over a short distance. Over 30km, NZ's biggest difference might be around 12000mm difference, but this depends on the short term recording of rainfall at around 1100 metres in elevation and east of Milford Sound, being accurate. The "dry" town would be Glenorchy, with a rainfall of 1500mm
I did say NZ's effect was probably the greatest in terms of total difference., and I think that is probably still true.
Hawaii is the only other place that would be comparable, but even though there is rainfall ranging from 10200mm to 204mm, it's hard to get a sense of how close that drier area is, as it only shows up on colour maps, as 200-700mm. The two extremes are on different islands.
NZ's official extreme is 11600mm/580mm over 60km, at around 43"S, but I was specifically thinking of a region that doesn't have official records, but is still speculated to be 13500mm/350mm over 80km, at around 45"S
It's likely there is a small zone parallel to the divide with around 15000-16000mm, and from there to the base of Pukaki at about 600mm could be as little as 60km.
Yep, I've seen the map now. It is a very pronounced over a short distance. Over 30km, NZ's biggest difference might be around 12000mm difference, but this depends on the short term recording of rainfall at around 1100 metres in elevation and east of Milford Sound, being accurate. The "dry" town would be Glenorchy, with a rainfall of 1500mm
I did say NZ's effect was probably the greatest in terms of total difference., and I think that is probably still true.
Total difference doesn't matter so much as the gradient. If the Maui map is accurate there may actually be a gradient of 10000mm to 200mm or so over about 10km in west Maui. That's about 1000mm per km!
The New Zealand ones are pretty impressive too.
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