Wild weather
Posted 1 May 2008 // Helen Rickerby
Tāwhirimātea, god of weather
Earlier in the week, meteorologists forecast heavy rain, thunderstorms and tornadoes. They were right about the rain – it’s caused flooding and slips in Northland, Taranaki and Wellington, and it’s been keeping me awake at night. I admit, though, I was slightly disappointed that the thunderstorms and tornadoes failed to materialise.
New Zealanders have a tendency to be obsessed by weather – we have so much of it, and it changes so often and so quickly. So it’s fitting that Te Ara, as a national encyclopedia, has a lot of information about our favourite topic of conversation.
There’s a whole entry devoted to weather, plus Tāwhirimātea – the weather, which looks at Māori weather traditions, and a climate – which, quoting Mark Twain, tells us that ‘Climate lasts all the time and weather only a few days’. From the weather forecasting entry you can learn how those people we don’t entirely trust come up with their predictions (apparently they don’t just make them up on a whim).
Several of the stories contributed to Te Ara by members of the public are about the authors’ experiences in extreme weather, including the misadventures of Zac the cat during the 2004 floods.
'That wonderful word ... fine'
Our fabulous weather-related resources include photos of a storm surge, a southerly buster and lightning damage; interactives that teach you how a thunderstorm forms and how to read weather maps; and videos of tornadoes in action and weather reports from 1978 and 2002.
A colleague confessed that the latter video, featuring the poised Tina Carline and the more-frenetic Jim Hickey, is his favourite video on all of Te Ara.
Funnily enough, a tornado did materialise early morning 30 April at Te Haroto/Tarawera between Taupo and Napier.
“It snapped the tops off mature pine trees and uprooted others. It also felled at least four power poles…”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4503738a11.html
It didn’t get as much coverage as you might have thought.