A wild sky this morning; bad weather on the way, in time for the weekend. Still, it's forecast to have cleared by Monday, when I head into the Ruahine for the whio survey — we're doing the headwaters of the Pohangina; being flown out by helicopter on Christmas Eve :^)
All content © 2008 Pete McGregor
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8 comments:
Kia ora Pete,
Spectacular! Another one I could hang on my wall and gaze upon every day. Have a great trip next week and please find many Whio. I am off New Years Day with an American mate for 6 days. Are you free at all next week? If not, Merry Christmas in the Ruahines. Awesome!
Cheers,
Robb
Awesome, in every sense! Very exciting, both the photo and your upcoming trip. Enjoy!
Reminds me of the towers and mesas of Monument Valley, just that fence post as a reference point.
Robb, Emma, Zhoen — thanks :^) The rain's arrived now and looks set to continue, with a cold southerly coming through later tomorrow. Fortunately, the forecasters are still predicting fine weather for Monday, so we should be going in as planned — and yes, hoping for many whio.
(Robb, I'm out on Christmas Eve and around here during the week between Christmas and New Year, so maybe we can catch up then).
Definitely not a Canterbury nor'wester! How interesting it is to see the difference.
You photograph some great cloudscapes, and I like that post right there in the middle.
Lesley, thanks. And true — we're on the western side of the mountains, so the equivalent of your Canterbury Nor'wester is a North-easterly (which is rare; even an Easterly isn't particularly common). The Nor'wester here is still warm(ish), but certainly has neither the ferocity nor the ability to desiccate and enervate like yours.
The Canterbury nor'wester is a foehn wind. You wouldn't get the same effect from a nor'easter where you are because it wouldn't be as warm (or hold as much moisture) when it came off the sea and hit the mountains. The North Island ranges are not as high as the Southern Alps, either, therefore the heating effect of increasing pressure as the wind comes down the other side would be less.
I find Canterbury nor'westers exhilarating, both the wind itself and the distinctive skies they bring.
Lesley, that's right — our nor'easter's usually pretty tame compared to the Canterbury nor'westers. Still, the July storm this year certainly caused great damage.
I respond similarly to Canterbury nor'westers; however, we're definitely a minority in that respect ;^)
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