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Summer down under


cbmnz

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Some photos of the garden on what's been a near perfect early Summer's day. High of around 24C (75F), and not too humid. Been quite a bit of rain in the past two weeks so everything is growing like mad. 

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Wintered over the banana trunk and one leaf with some polyester frostcloth, which allowed it to take off again since September. This trunk has been going since November 2016 so must flower soon. 

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R. Sapida Oceana small grade only been in ground since September 30th currently pushing out its second new frond.

20181208_122651.thumb.jpg.01108037b92e7d

 

https://youtu.be/_i4WfjVqPDA

 

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Sounds like you had a similar day to me. 23C and rh around 55-60% through the heat of the day. We had about 11mm of rain on Thursday so everything is kicking on now, including weeds. I've just finished a 10hr stint of weed spraying. I used just over 300L of roundup.

Your little Chatham is cute. It looks happy.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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15 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Sounds like you had a similar day to me. 23C and rh around 55-60% through the heat of the day. We had about 11mm of rain on Thursday so everything is kicking on now, including weeds. I've just finished a 10hr stint of weed spraying. I used just over 300L of roundup.

Your little Chatham is cute. It looks happy.

Sounds like hard work! You must be looking after a large area of land. I'm trying to use no herbicide these days. On a few hundred m^2 of section it's doable to weed only by hand.

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I have 6 acres here but about 3.5 acres is landscape. I'm on a wetland as well so weeds go berserk. The neighbours all have paddocks so they love open expanses of grasses. I'm trying to create canopy which slows down weeds. I don't like using herbicide but while I'm getting the place into shape it's necessary. Eventually I hope to use minimal herbicide. Kikuyu grass was everywhere here when we moved in. Now it's been tamed a bit.

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Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Supposed to be 34c here today and 38c tomorrow, I'll be throwing some water around the yard when I get home from work. 

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It got to 32C here yesterday and I watered everything well. Got thunderstorms and rain this morning. It reminds me of a Lord Howe Island morning after rain.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Have now had >200mm rain for the month to date! But have also had plenty of sun and lots of days mid to high 20's C.  Been coming in torrential mostly evening and overnight downpours sometimes with thunder. 

Our thunderstorms are still tame however compared to what I see reported has been hitting Sydney in the past week and especially yesterday.

 

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15 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Have now had >200mm rain for the month to date! But have also had plenty of sun and lots of days mid to high 20's C.  Been coming in torrential mostly evening and overnight downpours sometimes with thunder. 

Our thunderstorms are still tame however compared to what I see reported has been hitting Sydney in the past week and especially yesterday.

 

You don't want a Sydney thunderstorm. 8cm hail will smash everything.

Going for a 30C day today and at 8.55am it's 26.5C so I think we will smash 30C today. Might go to the beach later. It doesn't often happen here in Albany. The southern ocean is cold.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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We got to 35.5C here yesterday the hottest day in two years. Back to low to mid twenties for the foreseeable future and higher humidity. 

Yesterday around the heat of the day the humidity bottomed out at a -1C dew point then within the space of 10 minutes jumped up to 15,16C dew points. I was astounded. I've never seen such a fast dewpoint change and without much of a change in actual temperature. 

I watered everything and drained my tank. Will take around 48hrs to refill from the groundwater but with 23C forecast and gentle moist seebreezes I think everything will be ok after the good drink they got.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Been doing a bit of cleaning up on this Christmas morning, trimming off dead fronds etc....plenty of spiders out and about! 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Flipped from 260mm of rain in December to dry for the last 14 days, almost continuous sunshine with a steady drying wind. I can't see where the next rain will come from, the  subtropical ridge is just parked, areas between 34 and about 40S are under continuous high pressure, looks like it may last for weeks yet.

That did happen December 2017 which lead to sea temperatures getting to be up to 6C above average in the Tasman. That was meant to be a once in 50 year event. But sea temps are rising again and conditions look very favourable for that to continue. 

 

 

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That subtropical ridge has done exactly the same over here. No rain since mid December but the humidity is up. If a cyclone comes down the west coast in the Indian Ocean and warps the tropics we may get some rain but frontal activity is totally blocked and has been for a few weeks.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tomorrow's high has been revised down from 33, but even 32 if we hit it has only been exceeded once in the last 80 years. Don't think my R. Sapida will be hurt by this heat, it's only for a couple of days.

The upper North Island of New Zealand has a weird by some measures, summer climate, nearly every day the high is 21C to 28C, average around 24C and about half or more of calendar years it does not reach 30.

Document about the Climate of where R. Sapida Oceania come from:

https://www.niwa.co.nz/files/Chathams_Climate.pdf

"The Chatham Islands have about 4 days per year when the temperature falls below 0°C, and the temperature very seldom reaches above 25°C (only three occurrences between 2000 and 2016 were recorded at Chatham Island EWS). In summer, maximum temperatures exceeding 20°C can be expected on about 14 days each year."

 

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32C plus will not hurt your sapidas. They'll be fine as long as they're kept moist.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Well, like Adeliade the other day we exceeded the forecast by 1 degree and set a new record. 32.9 with dewpoint 21 and no wind all afternoon. Currently sitting nearly  9pm watching sunset through queen palm fronds and it's still 27C.

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On 1/29/2019 at 3:50 PM, cbmnz said:

Well, like Adeliade the other day we exceeded the forecast by 1 degree and set a new record. 32.9 with dewpoint 21 and no wind all afternoon. Currently sitting nearly  9pm watching sunset through queen palm fronds and it's still 27C.

Gotta love balmy nights. It doesn't happen much for us. You'll never get adelaides temps ever, which is very good.

Im expecting a 37C on Tuesday which will be the hottest in about 2 years down here. It's been cool otherwise though.

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Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Looks like the forecast hot day didn't eventuate?  Amazing how mild the forecast highs in your area are for the coming week. I wouldn't have known there was anywhere in WA that had a climate like that.. We have averaged a high of 29.9C for the last 7 days, which is way above normal.Forecast highs from tomorrow are 28,29,25,25,26,28,28,28,28. The average for Feb is only 24.3, and that's the warmest month!

 

 

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This is almost getting absurd,. I normally warn visitors that NZ is a maritime climate with changeable weather even in Summer. But the subtropical ridge is just parked so it's just day after day after day of unrelenting sunshine and temperatures just nudging 30C. Even when showers are forecast it has just meant a couple hours of cloud then back to sun.

The ground is getting so dry now it is cracking but the palms seen fine. Just trying to do a heavy watering every few days on the ones that have been in the ground less than 6 months. 

 

 

 

20190211_122856.jpg

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A tropical cyclone called Oma has weather watchers in two countries on edge. The two main models ECMWF and GFS are favoring diametrically opposed paths and continue to hold their ground. Some GFS runs if they verified would make it the worst cyclone in NZ's recorded history. Alternatively if it goes ashore in Queensland, will do damage there. 

image.thumb.png.c3df6dfb73c61bacc858acb35e777fec.png

 

Desperately need rain here but wouldn't want it from a 950hPA pressure storm, that would be a case of the medicine being worse than the disease!

A scene from a quick after-work river walk tonight -  Queens and  Archontophoenix mixing in with the native Cordyline australi and Phormium tenax (flax), No palms about the place seem to be worried by the current dry.

 

 

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Edited by cbmnz
cyclone graphic appeared twice
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Been cool here. Nothing but low to mid twenties for Feb. Averaging 15C min 24.4C max for Feb so far. Had lots of clouds some days with cold winds which feel more like winter and the odd sunny day. No real rain though.

It looks like NZ has missed the cyclone now it's just changed course towards southern QLD.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Yes, looks dead cert now the cyclone is going to go West and hover the Queensland coast for a while. Most of the wind and rain may stay offshore though.

In contrast to you, we're averaging max/min 28.6/12.5C for the month to date.. But max of just  20 forecast for Sun and Mon which should prevent this month setting an all time record for high tmax.

Is the climate data on Wikipedia right, that Albany, WA has never gone below freezing? Even Auckland aero right by the Manukau harbour dips below freezing occasionally and did get to -4C in the 1960's.  

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Albany proper may never have gone below freezing. It's right on the ocean. I'm 9km inland so am colder at night generally and warmer during the day. Albany proper is a very windy place so even on a cold night there'll still be some air movement, which prevents the temps from dropping too far. My place can get dead still though on the same nights, and with a bit of cold drainage can go below zero.:mellow:

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Just recorded the warmest night we've ever experienced since moving down here over 5 years ago. A minimum of 20.2C. At 7am it's 22.1C with 90% RH and a dewpoint of 20.2C. Real humidity

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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I would've thought >20C overnight lows would be more common there, just need a Northerly wind off the hot interior that kept up all night. After cooler nights for a while, recorded 19.5C overnight here and ATM after 10pm on 21.5 and not dropping very fast.  Not pleasant with no  aircon. Had yet another 29C day today. Hard to believe a cold change is finally coming by Sunday.

 

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We almost never get northerlies especially at night. Almost all wind comes off the ocean. Minimums above 20C are exceedingly rare and last night was the first time ever in 5 years here. We ended up with a sticky top of 25.9C. It's cloudy now and still warm with a bit of drizzle around. Lord Howe Island weather.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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On 2/20/2019 at 8:04 PM, cbmnz said:

 

.

Is the climate data on Wikipedia right, that Albany, WA has never gone below freezing? Even Auckland aero right by the Manukau harbour dips below freezing occasionally and did get to -4C in the 1960's.  

Albany town site has records dating back 100 years. The data available from the BOM has a gap of 40 odd years from 1965 through to the early 2000's. Means that the records haven't been digitized yet ( usually ) The available records show ( for the Town site ) an absolute low of 0.1c in July 1943. The Airport has recorded a few temps below 1c, the lowest being -0.2c in 1987 and 0.0c in 1973. The south west coastline of WA is quite mild indeed. For example Cape Leeuwin, with 100 years of digitized records has an all time low of 3.3c in July 1956.

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20 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

Albany town site has records dating back 100 years. The data available from the BOM has a gap of 40 odd years from 1965 through to the early 2000's. Means that the records haven't been digitized yet ( usually ) The available records show ( for the Town site ) an absolute low of 0.1c in July 1943. The Airport has recorded a few temps below 1c, the lowest being -0.2c in 1987 and 0.0c in 1973. The south west coastline of WA is quite mild indeed. For example Cape Leeuwin, with 100 years of digitized records has an all time low of 3.3c in July 1956.

You've done a lot of research there. The airport site moved a few years back. It's about 6km from me but still isn't correct for my place but better than the town site. Albany airport is about 70m above sea level whereas I'm 13m and in a valley. The airport area is dead flat for miles, hence why it's a good site for runways etc.

What keeps the coastal areas of WA particularly mild in winter compared to latitude is the Leeuwin current that hugs the coast from the tropics right around the south west capes and along the south coast until it cools down in south Australia somewhere. The Leeuwin current is powered by the trade winds in the Pacific feeding a westerly heading flow into the Timor Sea and the gap between Australia and PNG and this flushes that warm water out into the Indian Ocean which then tends to hug the coast feeding southerly areas with warm water. Further out to sea is the cool current in the Indian Ocean going the opposite direction heading north. Where they converge is an area of eddy currents and a mixing of warm and cool areas that can be seen on thermal imaging maps.

Cape Leeuwin is almost always jutting out into the Leeuwin current where it is still quite warm, so an absolute minimum of 3.3C would be correct. It's also a windy place.

Further north, Rottnest Island (almost always in the Leeuwin current) and to a lesser extent Fremantle have very mild minimums. I think Rottnest has never been below 4.5C, so zone 11 in the USDA system. In fact Rottnest will have trees flowering and fruiting earlier than Perth and the mainland only a few kms away. I've seen ripe locquats there in August, which is still the cold part of winter.

Further north again the Abrolhos and Geraldton are very mild for similar reasons but by then you can grow a good coconut palm.

Where I am due to the valley I get cold drainage issues and frost. But it warms up quicker than town. In general though winters are mild, windy and wet, and summers are mild too due to proximity to the southern ocean. It means that there isn't a huge difference in average temp between summer and winter. Winter is about 16,17C max and summer about 23,24C. Not much in it.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Can see that effect in the water temperatures listed here, not much difference between June and January, that is unexpected for a temperate latitude.

https://www.seatemperature.org/australia-pacific/australia/mandurah.htm

I guess that effect is better for palm growing than the other way around, enhanced warmer sea in Summer and colder in WInter would give WA hot humid summers and colder winters.

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Can see that effect in the water temperatures listed here, not much difference between June and January, that is unexpected for a temperate latitude.

https://www.seatemperature.org/australia-pacific/australia/mandurah.htm

I guess that effect is better for palm growing than the other way around, enhanced warmer sea in Summer and colder in WInter would give WA hot humid summers and colder winters.

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting info there. Yes the Leeuwin current would be responsible. Mandurah is a good place to grow palms. I miss being able to grow Wodyetia and in Mandurah it's easy.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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On 2/20/2019 at 11:34 PM, cbmnz said:

 But max of just  20 forecast for Sun and Mon which should prevent this month setting an all time record for high tmax.

 

Ended up getting to 23C both days. 24 tomorrow and slowly building up to 27 by next week according to the long range. Extremely stable Summer climate here during daylight hours, just the overnight lows that vary. 

Edited by cbmnz
New post was incorrectly appearing inside the quote.
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Well after exceeding 20C as a min a few days back for the first time in 5 years, last night was a new record for me with a min of 21.5C. It wasn't a dry warmth but a very humid night and then a cloudy max of 25.3C. It's been a warm feb for minimums.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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On 2/24/2019 at 9:10 PM, Tyrone said:

Interesting info there. Yes the Leeuwin current would be responsible. Mandurah is a good place to grow palms. I miss being able to grow Wodyetia and in Mandurah it's easy.

Yep, and they are healthy looking specimens too, without the ratty-tatty look of palms growing outside their normal Zone. Coastal Mandurah rarely gets the extreme heat of only 30klm inland. I was there in early June last year and it rained heavily and blew fiercely nearly the whole time.... lol

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Now that airlines are offering some decent NZ fares,  I'm committed to an August botany tour of the South African Cape region.   The Australia-NZ weather has gotten a lot of coverage, what with Queensland floods, Nelson fires, Oma (which provided some surfing news).  

BTW, in our area, lots of Wodyetias are ill-nourished or otherwise poorly cared for, but with fairly minimal attention, they get big and happy.

 

 

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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36 minutes ago, Dave-Vero said:

Now that airlines are offering some decent NZ fares,  I'm committed to an August botany tour of the South African Cape region.   The Australia-NZ weather has gotten a lot of coverage, what with Queensland floods, Nelson fires, Oma (which provided some surfing news).  

BTW, in our area, lots of Wodyetias are ill-nourished or otherwise poorly cared for, but with fairly minimal attention, they get big and happy.

 

 

No doubt they suffer from 'yellowing' in Florida ? poor soils, maybe some sort of nutrient deficiency, erratic watering regime / Even in Darwin, with a climate that mimics their natural habitat, they sometimes look a bit poorly.

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Yay! A little bit of rain fell out of the sky. Adelaide will be much cooler tomorrow it has ben crazy hot here.

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The east coast has had it so hot. Perth has been mild for Perth anyway. They still got to 40C this year. I remember in years gone by when I was living in Perth for work I had to travel east for short trips. In summer it would be like 36,37C in Perth for what felt like every other day. You'd go to Sydney and it would be 23C with high humidity and cooling sea breezes. It's been the other way around this year. I wonder what the winter months will bring. I'm hoping for moist and mild. I don't want abnormally dry with stationary high pressure zones lingering over us. They make lovely winter days but freezing nights. 

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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I've been in Sydney all week, leaving today and its been really warm and humid, yesterday topped at 36c with a thunder storm, it was quite unpleasant. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just racked up 70th day above 25.0C for the summer and 100 straight days since last time the daily max did not exceed 20C.

35mm rain for the month just in two falls has been just enough to wake up dormant grass, but still have large cracks in the lawn may have to fill in this winter.  

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  • 1 month later...

Had some rain but still only 144mm year to date which may be a record low for start of May. Still seeing 20C each day and warmer nights this week mean the banana is still actively growing. A couple of  close calls but no frost yet. Looks like quite a wind storm coming Sunday but probably not severe enough to damage anything.

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