Winter 2016 slightly warmer in Waitara

Spring has finally sprung and as we say goodbye to another winter, the usual custom is to look back at the cold months just passed and label them better or worse than last year’s.

But are we wrong about our belief?

One way to find out is to ask someone who knows.

Waitara’s Charlie Garlick, operator of the website waitaraweather.com, has made it his mission to minutely chronicle the weather for the region, and what his site has to reveal throws up many surprises.

Long time Midweek readers may recall an article about Charlie’s site many months back.

The site contains data on every aspect of Waitara’s climatic conditions, updated many times an hour, derived from his computerised weather station.

Wind, temperature, humidity – you name it, the site has the facts. So, was this winter just gone that bad?

‘‘The average temperature for this winter was 11.3 degrees,’’ says Charlie.

‘‘The average for last winter was 10.9. So, it was very slightly warmer.’’

But the highs, the peaks in the average, are a different story. This year it was a touch under 24 degrees, and for 2015 it was 20.6. The hottest day in winter this year was July 23. The highest wind gusts for both years were within three kmh of each other, neither above 69kmh.

We may have had more warm days in Waitara this winter than last, but there was also a lot less rain, which will come as a surprise to many.

‘‘Rainfall for Waitara over JuneAugust in 2016 was 345 ml, and last year it was 461.’’

Waitaraweather.com has gone from strength to strength over this year, a tribute to the massive attention to detail and accuracy of Charlie and his trusty gear.

‘‘There’ve been 56 page views just today,’’ says Charlie, ‘‘and it’s not even morning tea time. There’s been a great deal of interest in the site.’’

On a personal note, arrived back in Taranaki on the morning of September 9, and it is fair to say the plane landing was a touch hairy.

Within a few seconds of mentioning this, Charlie had the data to show why - wind gusts of over 61kmh at the airport at the time in question.

This is a great example of just how precise the site’s info is, and how fast and easy it is to get it.

For more information on weather in our area than you could possibly imagine, head along to Charlie’s site www.waitaraweather.com.

Charlie also highly recommends his associated proxy site www.waitara-weather.com (Note the hyphen).