Sparkle2nite

Just came across this weather report

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikato...1a6004,00.html

Not sure if I'm allowed to copy and paste (copyright etc, don't want to get my wrist slapped). What does anyone think, and does it put you off? Yes we know you get bad weather as well as good, but reading this makes me wonder if we are doing the right thing? Our kids safety comes first and this makes me worry now. :scared:

newkiwi

I wuldnt worry, you get pretty crappy days but overall the weather is much nicer in NZ than a loto of the UK....why r u saying you fear for your kids' safety?

If you realy want to be paranoid, you will do better worrying about the large earquake....................

Seriously though, we get flooding in places but the weatehr is hardly a threat...cold and wet sure...but dangerous...not really..

pompeymike

I live in Christchurch so I can only comment on the weather here. In winter it gets very cold overnight so you need your electric blankets and hot water bottles but in the daytime you get lovely blue sky and warmer temperatures. Yesterday I got up and it was -3c, bloody freezing and when I went to defrost the car there was ice on the INSIDE of the windows as well as the outside; 4 hours later at lunchtime it was really sunny and warm. You can't compare the weather here with the UK - you get twice as much sunshine here and if it's freezing cold you just put a coat on and a pair of gloves - you might even need to put some suntan lotion on - here in NZ you can actually get sunburnt in the winter!!

Mike

extrameant

Its not even the odd cyclone or tornado you need to worry about. A serious health hazard, especially to children, is the sun. I personally find it more of a problem than the rain back home, because it does mean you have to stay in the shade a lot of the time. Sun block isn't a full answer because you always get areas worn off or missing. I've met people from Fiji, who just don't have to bother with the sun in Fiji, say they get burnt here quite quickly.
I find winter is great here, because you don't get burnt on the sunny days, its just summer that is bad.
Seriously, the sun is the most dangerous thing here (if you exclude the driving!). Imagine you went into a nuclear power station for a visit and came out glowing red. Well, the sun is just a big nuclear power station!

Sparkle2nite

Sorry, but did you read the link to the weather report? Three tornado's reported and the fire rescue came out because people were trapped in their cars after flooding? Did this actually happen then? Tornado's are why I was worrying, just seems a bit extreme that this report says one thing and you guys say different......would rather hope you were all right! Can live with a leccy blanket and a pair of gloves so long as I see blue skies not grey drizzle and damp.....but tornados :scared: :scared: :scared:

BTW, what's an earquake

Pinkie Pie

It's when you shake your head violently (headbanging stylie) and your ear drums rattle I think....

newkiwi

BTW, what's an earquake [/QUOTE]

Kinda like an earful, only worse...i can believe how bad my typing is....

anyway, we did see the reports on the tornadoes, i live in wellington so no tornadoes happened here...but we do get very windy days down here..

those aucklanders just arent used to wind, thats what i think..

those were freak events, i dont think anyone got killed...I would not get too scared about tornadoes in NZ if i were you.......

extrameant

Flooding does happen and is possible anywhere. Buy a house on a hill, but not too steep or you'll get a landslip and you'll end up down into the flood anyway. Tornadoes happen but if there's three a year, whats the chance of one hitting your house? There are tornadoes in UK too, but maybe slightly more here. A cyclone causes much more widespread damage, but NZ is not in the tropics so cyclones don't reach here with much force (although, they can actually feed off the jetstream from queensland to NZ, thats what happened in wellington in 1968, I think it was.)
Wellington is just one big earthquake waiting to happen. There is one overdue now, by averages. Strangely, the national treasures museum is situated right on top of three huge fault lines in wellington. Think they don't happen... check out http://www.geonet.org.nz/latest.html

Auckland is due a new volcano any day now, the list just goes on and on. I suppose the old cliche is to check the road deaths in UK or NZ and work out how long you've got left and see if its worth coming to NZ first. Of course, if you think your going to stress yourself into an early heart attack, there's always switzerland. Nice and safe there, oh wait there's avalanches, and the odd fire dissaster in a road tunnel.

Anyway, last year down here, we heard all about the bad floods in UK, all round carlise wasn't it? I'm sure there were other instances too.

She'll be right.

sunshine_and_rain

It did happen. It was on the news and a very clearly visible tornado it was too. I can only speak for here - where at the moment - its is really cold. I got up this morning and our heating had been on for just under an hour and the temp in the house was just 17 degrees. We have gas central heating and it usually heats up quickly so must have been very cold last night. Yesterday the cars were frozen up - but this morning not quite so bad. Definately need your lecky blankets and hot water bottles too. A lot of it is simply because houses are colder here as well I think. My house at home never seemed to get as cold as this one - and we have fairly decent insulation and central heating. Its not dangerous though???? We had earthquakes last year - one quite big one too - and it was a little scary but not so scary as to make me want to hightail out of BOP.

My sister in law lives in AKL and she tells me it has rained heaps recently - but it does that here in NZ - hence why its is so green. I like the rain myself - much prefer rain to being cold and so doesn't bother me.

I think your children have more to fear from crime etc in the UK than the weather here in NZ.

It does warm up in the days though - and I rarely wear a coat - even in the winter, mostly just wear a light rain jacket for dog walking and school run etc. Gloves int he mornings though. HTH.
Shellie

Sega Mad

Just as a matter of interest I saw footage of a tornado in Leicester a few days ago. There has been flooding too. Glastonbury was hit by the weather on the first day and I also heard that their were a few houses floating off in the North of England. On Friday a number of buildings and houses in the South East of England were struck by lightning and significantly damaged, one burst into flames and was totalled. Bad weather is getting worse and it is a global phenomenon so we had just better get used to it. The only way the weather will stop us going to NZ is if it chucks our plane into the terrain.
The way things are going I don't reckon that anywhere on the planet is going to be 'safe'. Global warming means more overall energy into the global system which suggests more energetic weather systems overall.

Better stop spewing out greenhouse gases eh???? :scared:

extrameant

It really is hard to know weather to come or not then.

Sparkle2nite

Ooooo....groooooan......if ya gonna crack jokes like that I'll think again!!!! Thanks for all your replies, you have put my mind at rest and I shall carry on with our EOI (should be done and dusted by tomorrow).

LOL at you Ali with your plane! Seriously, I know what you all mean and weighing everything up, NZ still comes out better than here (in my opinion ). The North East floods were in Helmsley (which is not too far away from us) and that was a shock, guess I was a bit spooked :scared: by the report I read, but am calmer now

Debbie

Sega Mad

extrameant

You know the definition of a pun is something everyone groans at cos they didn't think of it first.

Actually, at least I got a response. I thought my crack about penguins and tim tams would have got a groan, but no, you made me bring it to a lower level again!

Pompey_Paul

What are Tim Tams?