The weather across the UK over the past couple of weeks has been fairly settled, but it wasn’t that long ago that parts of the country were wading in flood waters after a spell of incessant rain. With that in mind, spare a thought for the people of New Zealand who have been lashed by one of the worst summer storms in over 40 years.

It’s all been due to the collision between very cold air from the Antarctic ice shelf, and warm moist air from the north. The greater the temperature difference between the two air masses, the more energy there is to be released. This explosive mix can lead to some quite vicious storms developing.

So far, northern parts of South Island and southern areas of North Island have been in the firing line. Here, heavy rainfall and winds reaching 100 mph (167 kph) have caused widespread disruption.

Many areas have been flooded, hundreds of families have had to leave their homes, and the country’s dairy farmers have suffered great losses. Not only have many of the farmer’s livestock been lost in the floodwaters, but with major roads also flooded, millions of litres of milk have had to be dumped because delivery trucks cannot reach the farms.

The extent of the storms can be seen in the small town of Picton, situated on the northern tip of South Island, just 19 miles from Wellington. A state of emergency was declared here after a spell of torrential rain. In a period of just 40 minutes, 41 mm (1.6 inches) of rain fell. This was a phenomenal amount of rain, given the monthly average rainfall for the area is 81mm (3.2 inches).

Such was the downpour, that around a 1000 people were evacuated from their homes due to fears that the two dams above the town were on the verge of collapse. At one point, water was seen lapping the tops of the dams, bringing the fear that the 100,000 cubic metres of water they contained would soon swamp the town.

While the storms and flooding have eased slightly since then, two further storms are forecast to hit the same areas later today and into the weekend. With gale-force winds over 200 mm (around 8 inches) of rain expected to fall into the already swollen rivers over the next few days, the worst may not yet be over.

Weather News from the last five days:
18/02/2004
17/02/2004
16/02/2004
15/02/2004
14/02/2004

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