Climate Poetic justice in the land of ETS. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Freak snowfall has NZ reeling
WELLINGTON: New Zealand is shivering through a one-in-50-year polar blast that has brought snow to much of the country, the weather service says.
A bitterly cold southerly blast has caused snow to fall in areas of New Zealand which do not usually receive it, making roads impassable in many areas on both islands, closing airports and cutting power to thousands.
Staff at Wellington Zoo took advantage of the first major snowfall in the capital for 40 years to give the visiting penguin ”Happy Feet” a dip in an icy saltwater pool.
…
The MetService head forecaster, Peter Kreft, said the polar blast was ”of the order of a 50-year” event and warned it could last for days. The level of snow that had fallen in Wellington had not been seen since at least the 1970s, he said.
In Wanganui in the North Island, snow had settled for the first time since 1974, Constable Simon Beswarick said.
…
The MetService has forecast the heavy snow to continue today before easing tomorrow. It is unlikely to continue down to sea level.
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Must be “Global Warming” …
/sarc off
Snow, in winter, now there’s a turn up for the books!
That bloody Global Warming can stay on their side o’ the Tasman. Strewth.
So what? When it snows, that’s due to climate change too. Or are you a climacaust denier?
See! ETS works – told ya so! Kiwis lead the way in cooling the planet. Go Kiwi!
(Just make sure you bag all that snow, we don’t want it melting and running into the sea and raising the sea level.)
WeatherWatch’s Philip Duncan:
“Well we had a similar snow storm in the 1930s so probably not just global warming – but actually global warming means MORE snow storms, not less”.
How long before some dupe from their Met Office explains that the snowfall and cold snap is a predicted consequence of global warming?
Nothing rivals the great snowstorm of 1939 according to Erick Brenstrum writing on the MetService blog.
Snow was reported by the lighthouse keeper at Cape Maria van Diemen at the top of the North Island.
In Auckland, snow fell in many suburbs just before dawn on 27 July. Five cm of snow lay on the summit of Mt Eden, while the Bombay hills shone white for most of the morning.
It snowed in Gisborne and
snow lay 15 cm deep in Masterton, where the town clock was stopped at 2.20am by the weight of snow on its hands.
The Paremata harbour had eight hectares of ice.
Further south the snow was heavier.
Snow cut off Banks Peninsula from Christchurch for a time, and lay 30 cm deep in Akaroa.
Staff at the radio masts at Highcliffs, on the Otago Peninsula, were completely cut off and starving. A rescue mission was launched by one of Shackleton’s former team, using Shackleton’s sled, borrowed from the Otago Museum.
Rival Dunedin businesses had snowballing contests.
http://brightwings.typepad.com/bright_wings/2009/11/the-worst-snowstorm-in-new-zealand-history.html
A 50 year NZ cold cycle has nothing to do with the Green Hysterical concept of “Climate Disruption” although no doubt they will be claiming this cold spell and the USA warm one are as a result of our 4% contribution to this planet’s atmospheric CO2 content.
In a reply on another thread I said that this storm was unlikely to be any more than a 1 in 5 yr event. I may have to eat a bit of cold himble pie. Where we farm at about 300 metres above sea level in the central South Island it is still only about a 1 in 5 yr event. It is obvoiusly not for much of the country.
It is rather ironic that this country, which is the only one that I know of which has an ETS because of concerns about global warming, is currently the coldest country on the planet.
From a NZ newspaper instead of an Australian one:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10745421
“A weather historian says the polar blast has been a ‘once in a life time’ event.
Erick Brenstrom told Newstalk ZB the recent snow falls are similar to the massive storm of 1939, but temperatures were “a wee bit colder and the sheer quantity of snow was a lot worse” in the 1930’s event.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10742385
Govt sends ETS report back for updating
The annual Australia New Zealand climate change and business conference has unfortunately just finshed, before it started snowing in places never seen in NZ in a lifetime.
‘Climate Change Minister Nick Smith, speaking to the annual Australia New Zealand climate change and business conference in Wellington yesterday, said that in deciding how fast the ETS progressed, the Government would be mindful of what New Zealand’s trading partners did, particularly Australia, the impact on households, and the international competitiveness of trade-exposed industries, including agriculture.
“I expect to be able to announce the outcome of the review and the future direction of the scheme next month,” he said.’
Nick Smith knows full well that AGS is a rort, but his government just likes the extra taxes they have put on electric power and fuel, with increases to come.
Parts of the Auckland region had rare light snowfall.
Auckland’s first snow in decades.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5449785/Aucklands-first-snow-in-decades.
Worst over but snow could still hit hills.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5444263/Worst-over-but-snow-could-hit-hills
For UK readers, a familiar face discusses the weather in Wellington.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/weather/news/video.cfm?c_id=10&gal_cid=10&gallery_id=120847
Is Al… secretly visiting?
OMG, Al Gore is in NZ?
The sky is falling in!! Come back Chicken Little, all is forgiven !!
“SteveE says:
August 16, 2011 at 1:21 am”
Even in winter, snow fall to sea level IS unusual for Wellington. Usually never falls below 500m, and even at 1500, the summit of the Rimutaka Hill Road for instance, was rarely closed to snow, wind certainly.
Timely and opportune as always Anthony!
It might help to consider the New Zealand events alongside the NE USA / New York events.
There are simultaneous solar action driven gigantic shifts going on now in each hemisphere with significant cooling in USA – predicted by our Solar Lunar Action Technique to the day – alongside the supercold blast in New Zealand.
Readers may recall there were simultaneous major events in both hemispheres both of which we predicted earlier in the year such as blizzards in NE USA and Tropical storm YASI deluging Queensland – http://www.weatheraction.com/docs/WANews11No3.pdf
Right now THE GREAT FLOODS New York and tremendous BLIZZARDS New Zealand vindicate our WeatherAction Solar-Lunar Theory of weather and climate in terms of the ~58-60yr (approx on average) solar-lunar beat period, both having an increased prevalence of corresponding extreme events around that time ago. See http://t.co/ykcvnWM (Read this for MORE TO COME USA!)
Thanks
Piers Corbyn
It’s not necessarily indicative of anything one way or the other.
In 1989/90 I worked in the European Alps for a ski season. It was one of the wierdest on record.
After normal snows in November, freak rain up to over 3000m rendered the Alps green over Christmas/New Year. A month of cold sunny weather left the Alps pretty green on February 1st.
In February/early March, two huge storms hit the Alps. 3.7m fell in France and Italy in the first storm, in Switzerland rain in the middle of the first storm caused landslides. In the second storm 246kph winds were recorded, trees were down and villages cut off. And large amounts of snow fell.
In April, continuous snowfall to low levels brought a great end to the season.
Overall, the winter was very mild, but the storms were unusual to say the least.
Context is required when discussing such things………………
It seems that these one in fifty (one in a hundred year, etc.) weather events are happening a lot recently… Only for cold/wet/bad stuff though, no one would ever dare say that 1998 was a 1 in 70 scorcher.
He may not be as smooth a presenter as Gore, Cameron or DiCaprio, but he’s usually a much better forecaster than the sad-and-lost met-offices round the world.
Spot-on again Piers! http://www.weatheraction.com/docs/WANews11No11.pdf
WeatherWatch’s Philip Duncan:
“Well we had a similar snow storm in the 1930s so probably not just global warming – but actually global warming means MORE snow storms, not less”.
There’s been little of this sort of thing spouted as far as I have seen. Basically because for the North Island at least this is exceptionally cold. It would only make a warmer look really stupid to suggest that areas that don’t get snow ever are suddenly getting it because it is warmer.
My first thought was “What snow?” The picture shows a light dusting.
Second thought: Well, okay. Like all human senses and judgments, it’s all a matter of baseline and delta. If your baseline is zero snow all year, this is pretty impressive.
Third thought: The countries that are still most excited and most suicidally devoted to the Carbon Cult are countries with mild climates. Aus, UK, NZ, various Pacific islands. Not a lot of seasonal variation. Countries with plenty of seasonal variation, including the US, are losing their enthusiasm.
In other words: If you’re accustomed to a narrow range, it doesn’t take much deviance to get you excited and panicky.
Here’s an Aeiral view of it. Thanks to stuff.co.nz . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dR9NF6GUug
How many times do you climate denialists have to hear this? Global warming CAUSES snow. Sheesh.