My major present-day beef with such weather reportage remains somewhat different, however.This is neither that Dunedin's being unfairly picked on - as some would, at times, rather justifiably allege (including myself, at least vis-a-vis the nightly minimums, which are often much warmer than forecast and indeed often themselves constitute the following day's maximum). Nor that folk here in Dunedin are somehow colluding in some kind of clever con job with the national weathercasters - posting daily maximum temperatures consistently a couple degrees better (i.e. warmer) than is the actual case. Both of these I certainly would argue are problematic, and I do wonder at times, if actual conspirators are not involved, exactly what is conspiring to present things in such - the one minute unfavourable, the very next favourable - a light. Thankfully, it is also undoubtedly not my lifetime task to uncover those reasons either - which might be a little difficult anyway; one might suspect!
So the (long-awaited) issue is this: the long-established (custom of) positing the coming night's - and following day's - minimum and maximum as significant weather markers, and somehow intrinsically meaningful, is implicitly misleading. How so? Because said predicted maximum, for instance, may be achieved - just by the veritable skin of its teeth, if that - and then last for a mere 5-10 minutes (or possibly half an hour - if we're particularly lucky), while the real, ambient day's temperature may actually hover 2-3 degrees lower - again, if we're lucky, in these here parts - throughout the great bulk of the day.
And naturally likewise with the daily minimum. As explained previously - in Dunedin anyway, and especially of late during an exceptionally mild July - following a freezing June - following a wonderful April - subsequent to a rather miserable February (and early March) - preceded by a splendid two-week run-up to New Years Day, 2011 -
anyhow, as I was saying, it actually often gets nowhere near as cold as forecast/predicted/prophesied. So a small suggestion: ditch it folks - while you're ahead. Okay?
THE END
NO LONGER NZ's BEST KEPT SECRET!!!
ReplyDeleteYou oughta be ashamed of yourself, sonny...you've transgressed Dunedin's #1 cardinal rule: KEEP THE GOOD NEWS TO OURSELVES!
"Nekminute", as that dear old Pita Sharples puts it, we'll be overrun by all those ******** Aucklanders - or worse (if that's possible)...
What can I say Ma'am? Except GUILTY AS CHARGED - I confess it! And to think of the implications of that -
Deletei.e. potential overrun by AUCKLAND - the mind simply boggles...
Perhaps more of interest to you than that, my dear blog reader/visitor, is that Yours Truly has been coming in for some rather vicious criticism of late...simply because I choose to safeguard the privacy of correspondents such as yourself, passing your thoughts along anonymously, or rather, under my own name, as I've been so fastidiously doing... .
Shucks, one can't ever win...but between you and me, I'm sure it's just another of those Aucklanders anyhow!
Good to hear that your weather is eventful, rather than just changeable like it is in Auckland.
ReplyDeleteThat's ONE WAY to put it! Though truth be told, I understand one or two are starting to tire of all that 'eventfulness' - just a little, anyhow. And ain't you ever heard about 'having 4 seasons within the one day'? Well, Dunedin has around 1503, not to mention all the rest... . So no, it ain't changeable down here, just constantly, consistently fickle - and then some!
ReplyDelete