ISSN 0111-1736 Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.) NEWSLETTER 110 SEPTEMBER 2007 Meteorological Society Of New Zealand (Inc.) NEWSLETTER 110 SEPTEMBER 2007 PO Box 6523, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Zealand Please forward contributions to Bob McDavitt, C/- PO Box 68429, Newton, Auckland or [email protected] CONTENTS Page President’s Comments 3 Branch reports 4-5 AGM 6-7-8-9-10 Photo competition 11 Coming conferences, leters 12-13-14 Winter (NIWA) 15-19 Notable recent weather 20-29 Christchurch weather (Ben) 57 Meteorology in the Press 30-56 Your Committee , until the AGM President Kim Dirks [email protected] Immediate Past President Richard Turner [email protected] Auckland VP Sally Garrett [email protected] Wellington VP Jim Renwick [email protected] Christchurch VP Michael Titov [email protected] Dunedin VP Helen Power [email protected] Secretary Simon Kjellberg [email protected] Treasurer Cliff Revell [email protected] Circulation Manager Rowena Moss [email protected] Journal Editor Brian Giles [email protected] Newsletter Editor Bob McDavitt [email protected] Wed Editor Peter Knudsen [email protected] Hydrological Society Liaison Charles Pearson [email protected] General Committee Stacey Dravitzki [email protected] Katrina Richards [email protected] Sam Dean [email protected] Views and endorsements expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and ad- vertisers, and not necessarily those of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recom- mended by the Society. Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 3 President’s Report for September Newsletter This time last year I wrote to say that this would be my last President’s Report before my arm was twisted to stand again…I suspect that this time it really will be my last report! The 2007 Annual Conference will be held jointly with AMOS (the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society) and the Australasian Wind Engineering Society (AWES) in Geelong on January 29th to February 1st. Please check out the AMOS website for details. I hope you will be able to join us for this event. The late annual conference requires us to hold our AGM at a separate function in 2007. Along with the AGM, we have decided to hold a combined MetSoc event in Wellington on November 28th where will we celebrate the International Polar Year by holding a half -day workshop with this theme, the AGM, followed by the awarding of our third Kidson Medal. The agenda for the AGM is included in this newsletter. The Meteorological Society is always looking for new faces to join the team so if you would like to become more involved in the running of the society, please consider putting yourself forward for a committee position. The election of officers is carried out during the AGM. We would love to hear from you! This year we have seen the publishing of the 2007 Edition of Weather a Climate thanks to the efforts of Brian Giles, and Society newsletters, thanks to Bob. Please keep your submissions rolling in! Due to the success of our last photo competition, we have decided to run it again this year so please check out the web sites for details. The Summer School organised by the Hydrological Society will also be running again at the end of the year with Katrina Richards ‘holding the baton’ on behalf of our Society. This year has seen a significant increase in regional activity from the main branches, thanks to the efforts of the Vice- Presidents. Hopefully we will be able to keep the momentum going in 2008. All the best for the rest of the year. Kim Dirks President Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 4 Regional Reports: Auckland Branch Report – Sally Garrett On August the 7th, a small bunch of Aucklander’s (the few not suffering from the flu) enjoyed Howard Diamond speak on the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the climate component of the international Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS) effort. The seminar provided information on GEOSS and GCOS, with a focus on climate observing in the Pacific. In addition there was a discussion of some climate data management efforts and research effort dealing with a climatological study of tropical cyclones in the Southwest Pacific basin - Wellington (Jim Salinger) Howard Diamond from NOAA gave a talk at NIWA Wellington on 3 August and this was advertised to Met Soc membership. Howard spoke on Global Earth Observations for Climate: "Taking the Earth’s Pulse for the New Century.” - Christchurch (Mikhail Titov) There have been two 'open door' events of the HeatLab (UoC) open to Met Soc members. The first was early in September, and the second was on Friday (21st September This laboratory develops 3-D and 4-D visualisation of terrestrial – meteorological (and all other) data and participants have been very keen to use WRF output data to do 3-D visualisation and animation. They have also developed teleconferences. Information about HeatLab can be found on the UoC website. - Dunedin (Helen Power) Met Soc members were invited to two seminars held in the Geography Dept at the University of Otago. On August 7, Patricia Langhorne, from the Otago Physics Dept, gave a seminar on "Where land and sea ice meet". Dr Langhorne described the processes of sea ice formation, in Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 5 particular the role that frazil ice plays. Frazil ice forms in the water column and Dr Langhorne's research aims to measure rates of frazil ice formation and whether it is responsible for the formation of ice on the underside of ice shelves. Dr Martyn Clark, from NIWA Christchurch, gave a seminar on September 11 on "Snow research at NIWA". Dr Clark highlighted the need for better information on snow in NZ and explained that this requires a combination of monitoring, modelling, and process studies. He described a research project which aims to improve understanding of snow processes by studying controls on the spatial variability of snow accumulation. As part of this project, Dr Nicolas Cullen and eight postgraduate students from the Geography Department at Otago will join Dr Clark and other colleagues on a field trip this week to document spatial variability in snow accumulation using multiscale stratified sampling of snow water equivalent in a single test catchment, namely, the Jollie River Basin in the Mt Cook region. WEATHER AND CLIMATE Nothing new on Vol 28 – still only two papers have arrived. When ready it will be published at A4 size as agreed at the last committee meeting. Call for Papers. Members are reminded that Weather and Climate is the Journal of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand and is a conduit for papers on the atmosphere, the weather and the climate, particularly in the New Zealand and South Pacific regions. All papers are peer reviewed. Information for contributors is included in the inside back cover of the journal or can be obtained from the editor, Dr Brian Giles at [email protected] YOUR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING INFORMATION PACKAGE Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 6 1. Official Notice and Invitation 2. AGENDA (For Minutes of the last AGM see our December 2006 Newsletter ) 3, Annual Accounts 1. Official Notice and invitation : AGM 2007 The 28th Annual General Meeting of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand is to be held at 4pm to 5:30pm, Wednesday the 28th of November, 2007 as part of the Met Soc Workshop day for IPY, the International Polar Year, at NIWA’s Main Conference Room of 301 Evans Bay Parade, Greta Point, Wellington. The AGM is to be followed by a presentation of the Kidson Medal and a social function running from 5:45-7:30pm. All members are invited to attend. Please send apologies or no- tices of motion to our secretary Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 7 2. Agenda 28th Annual General Meeting of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand (Inc.) On Wednesday 28th November 2007 At NIWA main conference room , Greta Point, Kilbirnie, Wellington Starting 4pm 1. Attendance and Apologies 2 Confirmation of Minutes of Previous Annual General Meeting 3. Matters Arising from the Minutes - Future Conferences, attendance fees -Carbon Neutral Society Conferences 4. Annual Report from the President 5. Annual Report from the Treasurer 6. Subscription Rate 7. Appointment of Auditor 8. Election of Officers 9. Other Matters S. Kjellberg Secretary Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 8 Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 9 Meteorological Society of New Zealand Newsletter - September 2007 - Page 10 METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND INC. NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2007 1. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTING POLICIES Accrual accounting is used to match expenses and revenue to the year as appropriate. There has been no change in accounting policies. 2. SUBSCRIPTIONS Includes some payments of arrears. Subscriptions in arrears for 2006/07 have not been taken into account. The amount owing is approximately $890. 3. INTEREST Interest on SCF and cheque acounts combined under Interest. 4.WEATHER AND CLIMATE Vols 26 and 27 of Weather and Climate published. The backlog of publications has now been cleared. 5.NEWSLETTER Five issues paid for this year. All up to date. 6. STUDENT GRANTS To be reimbursed from Student Conference Fund. 7. TERM INVESTMENTS Term deposit 03 matured 5/10/06.