The weather sucks

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, January 9th, 2023 - 48 comments
Categories: climate change, national, same old national, Satire - Tags: ,

I’m back at work at my home office desk today. I have to say that the weather generally sucked in Auckland and the north of the North Island over my break. Waiting for Luxon and his brain-dead minions will blame the weather on the government – because apparently that is all that they can ever say. But mostly it is just La Niña – now in the third year of her current reign.

Anyway, this is the NIWA summary.

Outlook summary

  • La Niña continued during December and a marine heatwave intensified in Aotearoa New Zealand’s coastal waters with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) 1.1˚C to 1.8˚C above average. La Niña is most likely to ease to neutral by early autumn. [View more background information.]
  • Air pressure is forecast to be higher than normal over and to the south of the South Island and lower than normal north of the country. This is expected to be associated with an easterly quarter air flow anomaly for the season as a whole.
  • Rainfall is most likely to be above normal in the east of the North Island, below normal in the west of the South Island, near normal in the west of the North Island, and about equally likely to be near normal or above normal across the remainder of the country.
  • Warmer than average regional seas are expected to fuel occasional heavy rainfall, such as during early January; however, during periods of high pressure, dry spells will occur, particularly about inland and western parts of both islands. A dry spell is possible in the mid-to-late January period. The risk for dryness is elevated for Otago, Southland, and West Coast.
  • Temperatures are about equally likely to be near average or above average in the north and east of the South Island and east of the North Island and very likely to be above average across the remainder of the country.
  • A reduction in northwesterly “foehn” winds will likely mean fewer hot days for eastern areas in particular. Sub-tropical air masses, in conjunction with marine heatwave conditions, will likely keep overnight temperatures and humidity elevated across much of the country. However, this may also lead to more cloud, keeping daytime temperatures down.
  • There is a medium risk for tropical cyclones in the Southwest Pacific during January. New Zealand’s risk for ex-tropical cyclone activity is normal-to-elevated through April. These systems can cause flooding rainfall, strong winds, and coastal hazards.
  • Soil moisture levels are most likely to be near normal in all regions. River flows are equally likely to be near normal or below normal in the west of the South Island, about equally likely to be near normal or above normal in the east of the North Island and north of the South Island, and most likely to be near normal in all other regions.

NIWA: “Seasonal climate outlook January 2023 – March 2023“

It seems like I should have set up my home office in the South Island in this quarter.

Since I got back to Auckland on the 30th, it seems like it has alternated between heavy rain, and sharp showers with enough sunshine intervening to make sure that the place got really sticky. I’m already shuddering to see what February (usually Auckland worst sticky month) will bring.

As is now expected, we won’t get much of a ENSO-neutral period when this La Niña expires. But it is likely to be very short this time.

NIWA’s analysis indicates that La Niña will most likely transition to ENSO-neutral during January-March (60-65% chance), probably later in the three month period. During April-June, ENSO-neutral is favoured at around a 65% chance. The odds for El Niño have risen to 60% for winter 2023. August-October has a 65-70% chance for El Niño conditions. The last time El Niño conditions were observed during winter and spring was 2015.

Of the three “triple dip” La Niña episodes (three consecutive La Niña events) since 1900, two were followed by El Niño conditions in the following winter/spring and one was followed by neutral conditions.

NIWA: “Seasonal climate outlook January 2023 – March 2023 – Background“

In the meantime, there is tropical cyclone expected in the North Island starting today hitting mostly south of Auckland. However heavy rain is predicted for Auckland.

The weather sucks. I’m surprised that Luxon hasn’t popped up yet blaming it on the Labour being unable to do anything about it. :twisted:.

After all National have blamed every other world event’s effect on NZ on the Labour government in the last couple of years. Pandemic and surviving it with limited death rates, war in Europe, imported inflation from energy, They’re good at complaining. It is a pity that they have no actual policies about stopping bad weather – just the vague hand waving of the discredited trickle down economics.

48 comments on “The weather sucks ”

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  1. weka 1
    9 January 2023 at 10:54 am

    It seems like I should have set up my home office in the South Island in this quarter.

    The coastal SI towns and cities look pleasant righ now, but Southland is already having a drought, again.

    Dave Kennedy (facebook),

    A public announcement from the Summer Grinch (or possibly just a reality check):

    We are experiencing yet another prolonged dry period in Invercargill and a dropping annual rainfall. Our annual average is 1150mm per year, but over the last few years we have struggled to get more than 1000.

    2022 recorded 954mm overall, over two months less rain than usual.

    Riverton is dangerously short of water and the Southland District Council has issued a hosing ban.

    December '22 had only a third of the average rainfall and we are now 17 days without rain, with no significant falls predicted. It's 26 degrees outside and the current UV level is considered dangerous.

    It may be nice to be at the beach, enjoying the warm water, but the southern sea temperature rise is an extreme 5 degrees above the norm (highest in the country) and will have negative impacts on sea life. Fiordland sponges are being bleached.

    I think these stats are significant… but boiling frog syndrome seems to be impacting on our sense of climate urgency…

  2. Hunter Thompson II 2
    9 January 2023 at 11:03 am

    Weather sucks? The weather rules, and we must learn to live with that.

    Note also the ODT headline, 6 Jan 2023: "Toxic algae thriving in waterways."

  3. DB Brown 3
    9 January 2023 at 11:22 am

    Amazing weather for planting kumara slips, this rain. Put them in one day they're standing up tall the next. Rampant growth for some things, rotting bits for others.

    And just when I think I'm clever adapting to all the wet, another drought will arrive.

    Water harvesting AND drainage crucial for gardening/food foresting. Lot of work up front but it pays to think about all this stuff.

    Earthworks then trees, more trees, gardens in the sheltered bits. Hard work establishing but (mostly) seems not like work. Beautiful, improves in time. Not so much a production system as a life and spirit sustaining system.

    • Joe90 3.1
      9 January 2023 at 3:39 pm

      That's me, too. Thirty four years from windswept coastal cliff, sand/papa, to ten and twelve metre banksia and pohutokawa, rata, coprosma for Africa

  4. Anne 4
    9 January 2023 at 11:25 am

    NIWA :

    "Rainfall is most likely to be above normal in the east of the North Island,"

    We knowangry

    "Warmer than average regional seas are expected to fuel occasional heavy rainfall.."

    We know that too.angry

    "New Zealand’s risk for ex-tropical cyclone activity is normal-to-elevated…. These systems can cause flooding rainfall, strong winds, and coastal hazards.

    We effing well know that as well.angry

    Christopher:

    Why didn't the government do something about it long ago? They must have known. It's not good enough. I can assure you we will not let these things happen when we are the government.

  5. Adrian 5
    9 January 2023 at 11:54 am

    I have been living and dying ( financially )by the weather in the same location for 73 years and NIWAs predictions are very rarely anything like accurate, their previous one 3 or so months ago was for warmer and drier conditions on the SI northeastern area, the reality is that this is one of the coolest and wettest starts to summer in quite a while. We joke that whatever NIWA is predicting, bank on the opposite.

    Interestingly last night the sunset, once the cloud cleared saw a return of the "Hunga Tonga effect "of the beautiful luminesent colours again, they have been missing for quite a few weeks, obviously dragged down by last weeks first cyclone detritus. My resident chemical expert says that each colour is caused by different chemical from the volcano, each eruption apparently has a unique chemical signature.

  6. Sabine 6
    9 January 2023 at 1:12 pm

    It might suck for holidays, but dang i love walking barefeet on wet grass and in the mud and weeding by hand and planting is fun and easy.

    T'is the future, we might as well get used to it.

  7. Jenny are we there yet 7
    9 January 2023 at 1:16 pm

    Climate Instability. Yep, it's a thing.

    https://www.commondreams.org/news/europe-record-temperatures-january

    And this is only just the beginning.

    Lots of hand waving, for sure. Something, something, 2050. But very little to cut emissions in the here and now. Instead Let’s keep opening new coal mines or importing it from Indonesia, let’s keep up the dairy conversions, the motorway widening, And hey why not go for broke and toss a $10 billion undersea harbour tunnel onto the climate BBQ

    • SPC 7.1
      9 January 2023 at 1:28 pm

      Even General Winter won't fight for Putin's Russia.

    • Incognito 7.2
      9 January 2023 at 2:07 pm

      About that tunnel, when did the digging start again?

      Any realistic and non-binary solutions as to how tens of thousands of commuters should cross the harbour twice a day or make their way to work?

      You don’t have a list of coalmines in NZ that have been opened in the last year or so, do you?

      The Clean Car Standard came into effect on 1 Jan but that’s just hand waving too, isn’t it? And the New Zealand Rail Plan, for example, also more hand waving, yes?

      • adam 7.2.1
        9 January 2023 at 2:37 pm

        SURE

        The Tory scum would do a lot worse, like they did nothing under don-Key, and with act it's going to get real stupid, real fast. They will take us into the storm completely underdone.

        BUT

        Come on what your putting up is sweet bugger all. May as well just spit at it. Like all labour people, you need to take you head out of the sand on this one.

        • Incognito 7.2.1.1
          9 January 2023 at 3:12 pm

          I’m sorry, I was not aware that I had to put up a comprehensive list of government actions and initiatives. My bad.

          The problem with B & W people such as Jenny and you, like all ideological people and one-trick ponies, is that if something is not the magic silver bullet you outright reject and discard it as hand waving and something to be spit at. This is the antagonistic criticism and destructive attitude that plays straight into the hands of the vested interests and conservative Right.

          Given that (global) climate change is a super wicked problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem#Super_wicked_problems) we do not need simplistic binary reckons or even the odd simplistic ‘solution’. We need bold imaginative progressive thinking and action and every step in that direction I consider a good one unlike Jenny and you. It is about being realistic, pragmatic & practical, and progressive. The latter also means that one never sits back and rests on their laurels because there is always more work to be done, in addition to eternal vigilance and all that …

          • adam 7.2.1.1.1
            9 January 2023 at 5:30 pm

            You offer up what is essentially centrist ideology, and have the gall it call me a ideological hack.

            We have to deal with the issue now – Just look at the graphs now, stop putting it off.

            But what do I expect from two liberal conservative governments in a row, and their supporters.

            Super wicked, though that link may appeal more to lprent than you. Yes tricky 'ant it. Incrementalism, and transferring wealth to the top is effectively doing worse than acting at this point.

            • Incognito 7.2.1.1.1.1
              9 January 2023 at 8:38 pm

              It grates when somebody makes stupid assumptions about you and sticks lazy labels on you, doesn’t it?

              You seem to imply that Government is not doing anything and not acting, which is not true.

              Not all incrementalism is the same. Some people believe we must do more and faster. To them, it is never (good) enough and always too little too late [see what I did there?].

              Sometimes, incrementalism is indeed just variations on a theme, window dressing, moving deck chairs, perhaps with a little virtue signalling, etcetera. Obviously, nothing (much) changes and/or not for very long. Think about the many repeated dieting failures that individuals make. The status quo remains.

              Sometimes, we make big changes. Think NY’s resolutions such as going to the gym and giving up after 4-6 weeks. Again, nothing changes long-term even after any initial improvements. Or think revolution followed by counter-revolution and/or on-going unrest or civil war. In politics, this can happen when a new Government simply repeals the big changes made by the previous Government before they have had time to embed and entrench. We are back to BAU.

              However, well-planned logical steps in a consistent direction (i.e. steps of an overall and larger plan) can lead to meaningful and durable change. Think paying a little more towards your mortgage principal each fortnight and over the duration of the mortgage it adds to a huge amount of money saved. In other words, seemingly small steps build on each other over time to affect big(ger) change. In addition, through positive feedback and self-reinforcement each of incremental changes, which by themselves may have only limited impact, add up to something more sustainable that is a real change from the previous status quo. I believe this type of incrementalism has considerable promise in tackling wicked and super-wicked problems.

              Lastly, incremental changes carry less political risk, are easier to sell to the people (and voters), are more achievable, and can be more resilient.

              • adam …
                10 January 2023 at 1:07 am

                You seem to imply that Government is not doing anything and not acting, which is not true.

                Like this lazy assumption. You do it so well.

                Just in case you missed it, the1970's this was known, and understood. Then was the time to begin a move away from burning carbon like idiots. It's 2023 and quite frankly your approach is just moving the chairs on a sinking ship. I'm not say the government is doing nothing, worse, they are doing the so little its a sad joke.

                I'll stop here because your ideologically rigid on this, as most centrist are.

              • Jenny are we there yet …
                10 January 2023 at 8:43 am

                Would incrementalism have worked with the covid crisis?

                Of course not.

                Bold world beating decisive actions in the here and now were necessary to properly address the covid 19 crisis. Decisive actions had to be taken and saved thousands of New Zealanders from unnecessary early deaths, that saved our public health from collapse under the weight of the pandemic. Despite our best efforts, deaths and illness from covid 19 still occurred, but were low, much lower than other comparable countries.

                Decisive leadership that followed the science, took courage.

                The leadership and courage our government took to address the pandemic, was lauded and admired in newscasts around the world as an example to follow.

                Sure there was a reactionary backlash. But with honest messaging and regular briefings the government managed to keep the majority of the population with them. And were rewarded for doing so, with an election victory unparalleled in the history of MMP elections in this country.

                By contrast to the covid crisis instead of dropping and being manageable, New Zealand's greenhouse emissions are rising year by year.
                When it comes to the climate crisis, incrementalism is not working, instead failing badly.

                https://environment.govt.nz/news/nzs-greenhouse-gas-emissions-have-increased/

                We need the same courageous world beating pandemic like response to the climate emergency that we took for the covid 19 emergency.

                Why is it not happening?

                • Incognito …
                  10 January 2023 at 9:20 pm

                  You seem to have a warped view of the management of the Covid-19 crisis and incrementalism that I was talking about. In fact, you have proven my point that incrementalism might well be the best forward in the current Covid pandemic and the dealing with Climate Change.

                  Briefly, the global pandemic is still causing lots of hospitalisations (incl. ICU admissions) and deaths worldwide and in NZ not to mention the long-term effects of Covid-19. By and large, all the big and small changes over the last 3 years have been reversed and undone and we are almost back to the old status quo where the ‘new normal’ is almost indistinguishable from the way it was before the pandemic hit. This is because many people wanted this! Not just the mad-hatters of Plan B. Thus, very few of the changes have been durable and I cannot see much that has fundamentally or radically changed that will protect us better against this or the next global pandemic. Arguably, in some ways we are worse off than before. For example, vaccination rates against other diseases may be declining and attitudes towards all vaccination may have become more negative.

                  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/covid-19/300-years-vaccine-hesitancy

                  Fortunately, and perhaps surprisingly, I believe that we (this Government) is faring better against Climate Change through an incremental approach. This does not necessarily mean it and we are doing enough but the (small?) changes, interventions, and policies & policy adjustments might be more resilient and durable than we have seen in the Covid-19 crisis management. NB incrementalism is no less courageous and requires visionary leadership, not ad hoc (reactionary) management.

                  • Jenny are we there yet …
                    12 January 2023 at 6:07 am

                    "But climate science is frighteningly united. In every part of the world the climate is changing, and the environment with it." Morgan Godfery

                    I would support incrementalism if it was actually working.

                    If incrementalism was working we should be seeing a year by year incremental decrease in Green house gas emissions.
                    Instead, we are seeing an incremental increase in Green house gas emissions year on year.

                    We really need to do something to cut our emissions, but we aren't, we are increasing them.
                    See link above.
                    How loud do the climate alarm bells need to be ringing before we take some radical action?

                    Time to demand radical climate action from our politicians

                    Morgan Godfery 05:00, Jan 12 2023

                    ….it’s hard not to think that we’re content to remain sitting ducks – blissfully ignorant of the wider consequences of a changing climate. This is why, in 2023, we should demand bold, radical action from our political leaders. So far action takes place either at the edges – for example, subsidies for electric vehicles – or it takes form in far-off “targets”.

                    But targets alone are not enough. New Zealand needs to spend significantly more to support a just transition….

                    https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130949497/morgan-godfery-time-to-demand-radical-climate-action-from-our-politicians

                    • Jenny are we there yet …
                      12 January 2023 at 10:25 am

                      With emissions still rising how's that incrementalism working out?

                      Ten Years Ago Today

                      Jenny 5

                      12 January 2013 at 11:21 am

                      My suggestion:
                      A huge expansion in wind farms and industrial size solar collectors.Tthe design, the fabrication, the construction, the installation, the extension of the National grid, and all other necessary infrasrtucture. Including all the best practice training and workshops and and educational infrastructure all done here. Making a bedrock technical and economic base for the coming challenges posed by peak oil and climate change.

                      One year later

                      In 2013 the fully consented giant wind farm project in the Waikato cancelled.

                      .https://thestandard.org.nz/cunliffe-interacts-on-monday-evening/#comment-813239

                      Particularly interesting: Labour Party Leader in opposition, David Cunliffe promised to make fixing unemployment a priority.

                      Today

                      Labour Government appointee, Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says we must increase unemployment to fight inflation.

                      Orr: How much unemployment is needed https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300722179/orr-how-much-unemployment-is-needed-to-tame-inflation-a-global-problem

                      In the intervening ten years we have spent $billions on widening motorways and digging two road tunnels under Victoria Park and Waterview.
                      The Victoria Park road tunnel alone consumes as much electricity in a day for lighting and ventilation as the town of Huntly.

                      Incrementally helping increase our emissions. Doing nothing to reduce them.

                      Over the same period our emissions keep rising.

                      If you ask me ‘incrementalism’ is an excuse used to keep increasing our emissions.

                    • Incognito …
                      12 January 2023 at 5:44 pm

                      If incrementalism was working we should be seeing a year by year incremental decrease in Green house gas emissions.

                      That’s a fail on so many levels and thus I see no point in wasting more time on your comments. Good luck with your demands for radical action that must come ‘from above’ according to you. You can be certain that National and ACT are listening with open mouths.

                      At least Godfery almost gets it when he says “So far action takes place either at the edges”.

      • Jenny are we there yet 7.2.2
        9 January 2023 at 5:40 pm

        If you are interested, NZ Petroleum & Minerals maintain an online map of all current licences, including exploration and prospecting

        https://data.nzpam.govt.nz/permitwebmaps/?commodity=minerals

        Clicking on each area brings up the data for that area revealing a hell of a lot of ongoing activity.

        Since coming to office the Ardern administration have permitted exploration and prospecting for coal on both Crown owned land, and land purchasd by the mining company.

        "You don’t have a list of coalmines in NZ that have been opened in the last year or so, do you?"

        There have been no new permits issued by the Ardern Administration for the last year or so. But you probably knew that.

        But if we go back, just a little bit further, more than a year or so ago, we find this;

        Waikato coal exploration permit for Bathurst Resources branded hypocritical

        Zane Small 21/06/2019

        Information obtained by Newshub shows since the September 2017 election, five mining or exploration permits have been granted on Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) land, including one for coal exploration.

        The coal exploration permit was granted to BT Mining Ltd in September 2018.
        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/06/waikato-coal-exploration-permit-for-bathurst-resources-branded-hypocritical.html

        Reality Check for Anti-Coal Activists

        Straterra Media Release
        25 June 2019

        ….Activists opposing the recent decision to grant a coal exploration permit on Crown land in the Waikato region need a reality check, says Straterra Chief executive Chris Baker.

        https://www.straterra.co.nz/news-and-policy/media/reality-check-for-anti-coal-activists/

        In my opinion, the current bout of global climate instability, and promise of worse to come, is the real realty check the government need to be paying attention to. And pull all of these permits. Anything less is just hand waving. And that is not even mentioning the coal imports from Indonesia.

        It is all BBAU Bloody Business As Usual.

        • Incognito 7.2.2.1
          10 January 2023 at 2:46 pm

          There have been no new permits issued by the Ardern Administration for the last year or so. But you probably knew that.

          Nope, I did not know that.

          From your link:

          It was the only permit granted for coal mining exploration since the Government was elected in 2017, while the others were for mining of other minerals such as gold and silver. [my emphasis]

          An exploration permit is not opening a mine. But you probably knew that.

          The question stands as to how many coalmines have been opened. The onus is on you to support your comment and so far, you have only produced greenhouse gases hot air and lots of hand waving.

      • Jenny are we there yet 7.2.3
        9 January 2023 at 5:53 pm

        "Any realistic and non-binary solutions as to how tens of thousands of commuters should cross the harbour twice a day or make their way to work?"

        Yes, but a tunnel ain't it

        "Many industry experts consider the tunnel option to be a montrous money pit" Garth Falconer, NZ Herald Dec. 2

        Another road crossing of the Waitemata Harbour will only act to increase Auckland's traffic woes at a time when we need to be cutting our transport emissions. Instead of more road connections prioritising public transport on the infarstructure we already have, would be a far cheaper option addressing both our carbon emissions and traffic congestion.

        Waka Kotahi and the Transport Minister might want to look into taking two lanes on the Auckland Harbour Bridge away from private vehicles, and give them over for a dedicated busway. As an incentive for commuters to leave their cars at home, make this cross harbour busway fare free.

        To satisfy the cycling lobby that have been campaigning for years to be allowed on the Auckland Habour Bridge;

        When traffic is light, on weekends, or on Sundays, or public holidays, the busses be directed back onto the main carriage way and the bus lanes given over to cyclists and pedestrians on these days. A win win for the climate, for commuters, for cyclists and for the taxpayers.

        • Incognito 7.2.3.1
          10 January 2023 at 2:58 pm

          I am sure you have made your submission against the tunnel option despite pretending it was a fait accompli costing $10 billion. BTW, are you related to Steven ‘the 11 billion dollar man’ Joyce, by any chance?

          Last year the government scrapped a $785 million walking and cycle bridge.

          Now it has gone back to the drawing board and whether it is a bridge or tunnel, toll-free or not, many commuters say as long as it breaks up traffic, they are for it.

          https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/478724/new-auckland-harbour-crossing-debate-rolls-on-as-government-asks-public-for-views

          https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/478641/aucklanders-asked-for-views-on-future-waitemata-harbour-crossing

          • Jenny are we there yet 7.2.3.1.1
            16 January 2023 at 8:41 am

            I read both your links. Apart from the sole isolated quote you picked out. I felt both links gave more support against another harbour crossing than for it. Instead of a second harbour crossing, both the Right and Left call for making better use of the infrastructure already in place, ie. more P.T. and walking cycling options.

            Aucklanders asked for views on future Waitematā Harbour crossing

            1:14 pm on 13 November 2022

            …."This study will look at future options for people wanting to drive, walk, cycle, transport freight, take the bus or perhaps travel by light rail across the Waitematā Harbour. This will support us to confirm what new infrastructure is needed to cater for these modes, where it will go, and how to make the best use of our existing infrastructure, including the Auckland Harbour Bridge," Wood said in a statement.

            …..Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said it was encouraging that the government was asking Aucklanders what they wanted from a harbour crossing.

            But he said another crossing was decades away and was not a priority for him.

            He said his immediate transport concerns were getting more bus drivers into the country; preventing two years of disruption to commuter train services; fast-tracking the North-western and Eastern busways and getting a completion date and cost for the City Rail Link.

            Brown is urging Aucklanders to reply constructively to the government's online survey.

            ….."Huge amounts of carbon can be embedded in transport infrastructure projects especially things like tunnels and highways, so it's really important we're considering not just the emissions of people using the infrastructure but the emissions going into building the infrastructure, because we have a limited carbon budget left."

            One thing that could be done immediately to improve transport in Auckland, was to free up a lane on the harbour bridge for walking and cycling, she [Julie Anne Genter] said.

            https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/478641/aucklanders-asked-for-views-on-future-waitemata-harbour-crossing

            Genter's view is in line with my suggestion above;

            "…..Waka Kotahi and the Transport Minister might want to look into taking two lanes on the Auckland Harbour Bridge away from private vehicles, and give them over for a dedicated busway. As an incentive for commuters to leave their cars at home, make this cross harbour busway fare free.

            To satisfy the cycling lobby that have been campaigning for years to be allowed on the Auckland Habour Bridge.

            When traffic is light, on weekends, or on Sundays, or public holidays, the busses be directed back onto the main carriage way and the bus lanes given over to cyclists and pedestrians on these days. A win win for the climate, for commuters, for cyclists and for the taxpayers.

            • Jenny are we there yet 7.2.3.1.1.1
              16 January 2023 at 8:54 am

              P.S.

              I have just learned – in support of my suggestion, that there is to be a trial of taking a lane of the Harbour Bridge away from cars.

              Walk It. Wheel It. across the Auckland Harbour Bridge next year

              16 December 2022 3:04 pm | Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency

              …..The three Walk It. Wheel It. events in March 2023 will be free, allowing people to safely cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge on foot or using bikes, scooters or wheel chairs.

              The events will be held on Sunday 12, 19 and 26 March (with a rain date of Sunday 2 April) and will run between 8am & 5pm. Sixty thousand Aucklanders will have the chance to take part, with twenty thousand free tickets available per day.

              We're thrilled to be able to share this exciting news with the people of Tāmaki Makaurau, supporting the Government's vision to provide real transport choice and create a lower carbon transport system, says Deb Hume, Waka Kotahi National Manager Multimodal and Innovation.

              https://www.nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/walk-it-wheel-it-across-the-auckland-harbour-bridge-next-year/?

              Let's get out there to support this trial. Less cars, less congestion, less pollution. What's not to like?

              For a more livable climate friendly city, let's make this initiative for less room for cars on our bridge and in our city permanent.

  8. Robert Guyton 8
    9 January 2023 at 1:32 pm

    Riverton is blazing! The soil is very dry, outside of the forest-garden, where the natural mulch of twig and leaf, shields the earth from the relentless sun and heat. A courier just called in to deliver a package and said he had just returned from Rarotonga and it was nowhere near as hot as this 🙂

    • DB Brown 8.1
      9 January 2023 at 2:54 pm

      It can get a bit scary as mulch becomes crispy underfoot. That is how it was up here with the drought while establishing a food forest area a few years back. Recall I was talking about fire-resistant trees and shrubs, placement of water, fire breaks, etc. Even the idea of chop and drop was broken by the drought as mulch wasn't decomposing it simply dried out – crackling dry! Still protecting the soil, but not feeding it nearly so much.

      It rang alarm bells after Aussie burning. Fast forward a few years the drought seems a distant (but lesson filled) memory, while some kind of steaming subtropical biome is emerging. The need for (more) swales and water retention will never be forgotten.

      • Robert Guyton 8.1.1
        9 January 2023 at 4:03 pm

        You might enjoy this, DB.

        “I think it’s kind of funny when western science catches up with indigenous science. Take the example of the Jaguar, within innumerable indigenous nations of the Americas this powerful feline has been deified and was often considered to be the bringer of rain. But much of this cultural science was shunned, and even outlawed by colonial powers. The new cultural norm became ranching, monocultures, and predator removal. Now our most visionary ecologists tell us that Jaguars are keystone species, in another words they hold in balance a vast food web. For example, herbivores without predators, can denude an ecosystem of complex vegetation which in turn leads to the decline of countless species that depend on those plants.”

        https://ritualbiology.com/ritual-biology/2023/1/8/ksekr6f9mexj2xfdlcbu7sksfoxcui

        <

    • Adrian 8.2
      9 January 2023 at 3:17 pm

      The islands rarely get much hotter than the hottest here Robert due to ElNino/La Nina and the tradewinds which pick up the cooling from the sea but the South island has Frohn winds that get their heat from sliding down the Southern Alps and across the plains picking up heat from rock and hard ground and the friction created from the speed.

      In an El Nino the cyclones will roll along the Equator further and pick up a bit more heat that way and then the Cooks and French Polynesia get pretty warm.

      • Robert Guyton 8.2.1
        9 January 2023 at 4:05 pm

        "…the South island has Frohn winds that get their heat from sliding down the Southern Alps and across the plains picking up heat from rock and hard ground and the friction created from the speed."

        Fabulously expressed, Adrian!

        Thanks.

  9. Thinker 9
    9 January 2023 at 3:37 pm

    To reverse the "blame Labour for everything" trend, there is a major rush of hot air emanating from National Party HQ that is creating a tropical cyclone of wind that blows hard but only creates havoc in its wake.

  10. Stuart Munro 10
    9 January 2023 at 5:49 pm

    The heat is deadly.

    Smolt revolve,

    go belly-up,

    we drag them out

    so many sonderkommandos.

    Reeking of death,

    we stalk the fugitive eggs

    on barren supermarket shelves,

    waiting for the next shoe to drop.

    • AB 10.1
      9 January 2023 at 7:22 pm

      Very good. Are you working on a salmon farm and the water is too warm for the young fish? Are you pulling dead fish out of their pens like the special forces (sonderkommandos) at the Nazi death camps? Is the next shoe to drop going to be even worse climate change?

      • Stuart Munro 10.1.1
        12 January 2023 at 5:55 pm

        All excellent questions – companies tend to be averse to public commentary of this kind however – so I'd probably better not be more explicit on this occasion.

  11. MF 11
    10 January 2023 at 8:28 am

    How does the weather become an opportunity to be abusive about the National party and it’s leader? Journalism? Not really. More like ‘whining old guy down the pub’ comments.

    • Incognito 11.1
      10 January 2023 at 10:24 am

      Get back to us when you have figured out the difference between a leader and a manager. We’ll pass it on to National Party HQ and let them know that governing a country is nothing like running an airline.

    • lprent 11.2
      10 January 2023 at 5:29 pm

      Perhaps you should read the tags on the post. "satire" was amongst them. Also I’m not a journalist. I’m a computer programmer who occasionally write blog posts. For one I get paid and the other is just just my opinions about facts expressed as I see them. Which incidentally is far better than most of the journalistic opinion writers like Mike Hosking who wouldn’t be able to recognise a fact unless it was a wall running into his car. They don’t even get to the extent of adding links to their opinion and routinely make up ‘facts’. I call those bullshit artists

      I'm just tired of misogynist fools that seem to think that the Labour government and especially people like Jacinda Arden or Helen Clark can wipe their arses. It sounds to me like you’d qualify for that tag. Also for humourless, thick, and idiot troll. But hey you could always surprise me and actually try to present an argument about why these are not your usually behaviours.

      For instance Brooke Sabin who was satirically poked at in a post by another non-journalist today in "Why is everything always Jacinda’s fault?" and satirised further by this image…