If you like the Hutt Weather website, why not vote for us in the NZ Weather Best Weather website competition. Voting for the competition occurs in July, and there are a number of high quality sites in the competition along with Hutt Weather. Voting is easy, and anyone can take part. More information is available here.
Hutt Weather selects Davis Instruments as it's new hardware provider
Huttweather is pleased to announce that it has replaced it's old equipment with a new Davis Vantage Vue station as of 12 June 2010. This has been a big change for us - the cost of replacing the whole station is not small, and there are other considerations that need to be taken into account, such as new software, and locating the new hardware for the most accurate recording.
You will no doubt have seen the donate panel and the advertising down the right hand side of the website. We all know times are tough. It takes time and alot of money to keep a site like huttweather.co.nz up and available24 hours a day. We receive excellent support from our hosting partner OnTheInternet.co.nz, and as a result we have managed to keep donation requests and advertising off the site.
Okay - have found some time over the long weekend to do some updates to the site - mainly some minor changes to menus. You will see that some of the old content items are now split over two new menus, one specifically for site info and the other for general weather info such as earthquakes, tides and astronomical data.
A guestbook has also been added - we love to hear about how people use the site and what they think about it. It keeps us motivated to keep the site up and working, so if you have any feedback, you can either put it into the public space in the guestbook, or send us an email directly.
(b) Monthly updates are available on the website - follow the link on the left hand side menu
(c) 6 day forecasts are available as provided by Weather Underground - follow the link on the left hand side menu
We're looking at bringing more info onto the front page, after noticing that alot of people don't get past the front page of the site ;-( . It won't be all the info, but hopefully will contain a basic "weather now" summary as a bit of a teaser. It's great to hear all your feedback about how you use the website. If you have any feedback, or want to see us provide additional information feel free to send us your comments.
Welcome to Winter 09
Here at Hutt Weather we have a tradition of welcoming in the first snowfall of the season. Not sure what it is, but for those interested in the weather those dreary cold days mark the start of an interesting weather pattern of storms, rainfall and maybe the odd snowfall on the hills.
Little did anyone suspect that this year, winter would arrive with a polar blast so early in the season. The weekend of 30th to 31st May marked an unsettled period as southerly winds sourccing cold air from Antarctic waters brought a blustery southerly with hail, rain and even snow around the suburbs in Wellington. Snow was even rumoured to be falling in Willis street, at sea level in central Wellington, something that last happened around 40 years ago. Of course I was out trying to brave the elements for your viewing pleasure, and this is the evidence after one particularly viscious hailstorm made it's way through Maungaraki. Check out our YouTube video here and then look at the aftermath below.
After years of planning (well years of thinking), a few hours swearing in the roof yesterday, a large slice through a finger, a few holes in the house, and some large bits of sticky tape (on the camera not the finger!), the weather cam is now up and running. You can find it on the Weather Webcam link, on the Maungaraki Weather menu to the left. Feel free to leave comments
Southerly front makes it's way north
A southerly front made it's way through Wellington on the 25th October, and we were able to capture some dramatic shots as it came through. Enjoy!
First Snowfall for 2008 Winter Season
Anyone who was wondering about the whereabouts of winter this year, received a reality check over the last weekend. The following is a picture of the mountains on the eastern side of the Hutt Valley, showing just why it was so cold over the weekend. The snowfall was at the tail end of a southerly storm, which passed through on the 4th May.
Snow like this happens around 4 or 5 times a year in Wellington - so it's not that common. It very rarely (if ever) snows in the valley itself, which is essentially at sea level.
The photo is of the Rimutaka's, above Wainuiomata. The Seaview marina can be seen in the foreground.
