Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Phew, what a scorcher?

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  • Che Tibby,

    so... how long till we start hearing questions about planning to mitigate global warming?

    and, of course the inevitable reply, "no one was expecting these weather effects."

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    Thought you were talking about the weather here
    19.5 C at 11 oclock
    But the month is said to be the coldest in 30 years
    My point being the weather changes day by day year by year
    It is the long term changes that count and while there is some evidense that it is getting warmer shouting out "climate change" every time something changes weatherwise is not helpful

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Not that NZ is necessarily much better - I recall in the past few weeks a swathe of news stories about how the folks down Dunedin way had never seen snow before & didn't realise how slippery ice is.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    so... how long till we start hearing questions about planning to mitigate global warming?

    and, of course the inevitable reply, "no one was expecting these weather effects."

    I think there's clearly enough risk to justify quite substantial planning along those lines. Indeed, that's the main point in the short term: if the climate is changing in this way, what are the practical issues?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Thom James,

    Russell's right, Britain's entire infrastructure is almost amusingly at the whim of seemingly innocuous conditions (although the current scenario is obviously extreme). I was working in Sheffield a few years ago, which being in Yorkshire gets pretty grim in winter. The whole city ground to a halt after one snowfall, with my 30 minute commute taking me 3 hours. The Scandanavians, Canadians etc manage to live many months of the year under far more extreme conditions, so why the bloody hell couldn't us Brits cope with a light dusting of the white stuff?

    Auckland • Since Apr 2007 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    I slept through the "Great Storm" of October 1987: although the south coast copped the strongest winds in 300 years

    So did I and after watching this now infamous BBC weather report the previous evening who wouldn't have.

    Michael Fish never quite regained his weatherman cred as a result of the level of death and devastation we all woke up to the next day.

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Kennedy,

    "Leaves on the Track" - and the entire SE train service comes to a stop

    you have got to love it

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Not that NZ is necessarily much better - I recall in the past few weeks a swathe of news stories about how the folks down Dunedin way had never seen snow before & didn't realise how slippery ice is.

    Man, we fooled the media good with that story. All that training of people wandering around saying "hey, what's this white stuff falling out of the sky?" clearly worked.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Kennedy,

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    London is currently quite detached from this ill weather - we have had some really good hot days this week, today and Sunday were especially good - which was good news as I was at a concert in a park all Sunday so the rain would have made things kind of grim.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    <i>Not that NZ is necessarily much better - I recall in the past few weeks a swathe of news stories about how the folks down Dunedin way had never seen snow before & didn't realise how slippery ice is.</i>

    News editors LOVE weather stories, since you don't need a brain to cover them. Put your sixteen year old platinum blond 'journalist' in a helicopter, get pictures of snow covered fields, kids playing and farmers moving stock and then come home again. And the snow (or rain, or wind) doesn't have any comms managers or lawyers so it can't complain to your boss, pull its advertising or threaten to sue. That's why most of the news in winter is devoted to 'it's snowing in the South Island!' or 'Wellington is experiencing high winds!'

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Not that NZ is necessarily much better - I recall in the past few weeks a swathe of news stories about how the folks down Dunedin way had never seen snow before & didn't realise how slippery ice is.

    News editors LOVE weather stories, since you don't need a brain to cover them. Put your sixteen year old platinum blond 'journalist' in a helicopter, get pictures of snow covered fields, kids playing and farmers moving stock and then come home again. And the snow (or rain, or wind) doesn't have any comms managers or lawyers so it can't complain to your boss, pull its advertising or threaten to sue. That's why most of the news in winter is devoted to 'it's snowing in the South Island!' or 'Wellington is experiencing high winds!'

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    , that's the main point in the short term: if the climate is changing in this way, what are the practical issues?

    hurricane katrina is probably a great example. there was planning in place, but it was either ineffectual or, more importantly, poorly lead [looks at gwb...]

    i hear the sound of shuffling deckchairs, world-wide.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    why the bloody hell couldn't us Brits cope with a light dusting of the white stuff?

    I suspect Jafas wouldn't cope too well for the same reasons. Went I want a lagh I imagine what snow would do to Auckland transport....

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    why the bloody hell couldn't us Brits cope with a light dusting of the white stuff?

    The last time I was in London, it seemed like many people just loved a light dusting of the white stuff ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    "The last time I was in London, it seemed like many people just loved a light dusting of the white stuff ..."



    Its quite insane over there, isn't it?


    I was quite astonished. I'd hate to think what they would make of it in Levin.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    The last time I was in London, it seemed like many people just loved a light dusting of the white stuff ...

    Its when it hangs around for a couple of days and turns grey slushy and stinky that it looses its allure. Rom Com movie depictures of winter in london have a lot to answer for.

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Now might be a good time for Denis Dutton and his chums to emerge to explain again how if global warming is happening (and of course it isn't, you know) it's all good anyway.

    As far as the Climate <giggle>Science</giggle> Coalition goes they have had a habit of, on a morning where some significant research or decision will be announced in the afternoon, putting out a release loudly complaining about something entirely different. That said, the last one they were welcoming NIWAs plans to make the databases public.

    As far as Dunedin, the media and show goes, it apparently always used to be the case that, if there was perhaps a dusting down to sea level, the tv would troop out to Wakari, where the local microclimate would see inches of the stuff falling.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Its when it hangs around for a couple of days and turns grey slushy and stinky that it looses its allure

    I think Russell was alluding to something that doesn't hang around so long. Think Kate Moss, a razorblade and a mirror...

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    I don't the researchers are claiming that extreme weather conditions are linked to global warming, from The Guardian -

    "The study looks at the trends in annual precipitation, but we don't address the trickier issue of what is happening with the extreme events. Especially regionally, that is harder to discern because there is much more variability and the events are rarer as well, so it is a more difficult problem."

    All those towns flooded in England are sitting on flood planes which were of course created by (pre-global warming) floods. Much like in NZ, flat land by rivers being a very handy place to build.

    It's possible that broad weather patterns change but extreme events are not affected, or there's just a swap from one sort of extreme condition to another - e.g. drought instead of flood. Or the extremes could become more extreme.

    The problem with planning for rare events is that you have to choose a time frame - 100 yrs 200 yrs - which every so often will by definition not be good enough. So whenever there is major flooding such as happening now in England that causes damage then that will show up a lack of planning but only in the sense that the planning was for a shorter timeframe. It's always tricky. It takes more resources to plan for the rarer occurrences.

    In NZ we plan for flooding but it's pretty much guaranteed that every few years at least one part of NZ will experience conditions beyond those planned for.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • ron,

    I'm not quite sure why you feel the need to malign Denis Dutton. He's pointed out, although I'm sure you're aware, that back in the mid '70s the world was apparently suffering a climatic cooling trend that was going to have devastating effects for the rest of the century. There was possibly going to be a new Ice Age. It's just as well a few skeptics didn't jump on the bandwagon.

    I still can't get Al Gore's claim of Ground Zero covered by water out of my mind. All exaggerations are equal but some are more equal than others, it would seem.

    auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 77 posts Report Reply

  • mark p baker,

    But even Our Glorious Leader is not immune to the charms of the Chicken Little sound grab on this issue - (effects baritone, additional chest hair and stern look) "all you people who stupidly built on a flood plain at Kaeo 150 years ago may have to look at moving your town to higher ground"...

    I'm on the side of the climate change brigade but really, Helen, what planet DO you occupy. Kaeo has always flooded, it is simply that now we have insurance companies who like to bleat about this stuff.

    Back in the Good Old (Bad Old) days before 'civilisation" people just moved their stuff onto tables and went and sat in the attic or on a hill till the weater went down, because...newsflash to Helengrad...IT ALWAYS DOES.

    Anyone been in the Karangahake Gorge and stopped for a beer at Waikino Hotel partway through? Lots of exciting pics of the gorge in flood, which is does every few years, showing the pub half submerged (it's a two storey structure). I bet they have a hard time getting any insurance at all down there. Life goes on though, doesn;t it?

    Note: literal transmation of Waikino: Bad water. Funny that, maybe the floods happened before the white fella came and brought all his global warming shite with him...

    ParpyKoura • Since Dec 2006 • 11 posts Report Reply

  • mark p baker,

    Aaargh, can we get spell check on here? Or do I have to be more careful with my flying search and peck two finger typing? Prufe reedre wonterd...

    ParpyKoura • Since Dec 2006 • 11 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    Maybe we should run a pool to see which NZ news bulletin is the first to run indigenous stories with the banner "Wicked Weather" (or when). The overseas channels use it a lot and it drives me nuts. If the weather is 'wicked' maybe we should try dropping virgins into volcanoes again to appease it.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • mark p baker,

    Ah, the phenom of over-used phrases in the news. Try Googling "bus plunge" for a giggle...

    And virgins would be a no-no, at least in the volcanic fields of South Auckland; I believe they are now on the official list of endangered species out here...

    ParpyKoura • Since Dec 2006 • 11 posts Report Reply

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