Extreme Temperature Diary- Monday January 30, 2023/ Main Topic: Auckland New Zealand Flooding…Another Sign of Climate Change

The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track global extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉

Main Topic: Auckland New Zealand Flooding…Another Sign of Climate Change

Dear Diary. Today I’m reporting yet another heavy precipitation event that I would argue had not occurred unless climate change was occurring. We’ve seen this type of event happen across California during this winter. Now it’s New Zealand’s turn during their summer.

Let’s look at the 500 millibar pattern near New Zealand on Friday. It appears that an innocuous looking system was over New Zealand that day. Sometimes weak systems combined with tropical moisture can squeeze out s lot of rain on a given location, and that is indeed what happened at Auckland:

Here are more details from the Washington Post. For a great video of the disaster, please hit the link bellow:

Auckland, New Zealand sees record rainfall, severe flooding – The Washington Post

An entire summer’s worth of rain fell in a single day in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday, triggering severe flooding that forced evacuations, blocked roads, closed airports and washed away a bridge.

At least one person died as a result of the 10-inch deluge, local media reported, though authorities said the disaster’s toll wouldn’t be fully known until daybreak Saturday.

Mayor Wayne Brown declared a state of emergency: “Infrastructure and emergency services alike have been overwhelmed by the impacts of the storm.”

The country’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said it was the wettest single day on record for multiple locations in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

Waist-deep water surged into homes, forcing some evacuations, Ricardo Menéndez, a member of the New Zealand Parliament, said on Twitter. Flooding and landslides closed numerous roads, authorities said.

Auckland Airport was closed, and videos shared on social media showed floodwaters surging into its terminal. As many as 1,000 people were stranded there, the New Zealand Herald reported.

More than 10.3 inches of rainfall was observed within 18 hours in Albany, a northern suburb. Within just two hours, Auckland Airport received over 5 inches of rainfall — more than half its record-setting total of 10.2 inches for the day, according to the country’s MetService.

The torrential rains come during what is typically a dry stretch of the year on much of New Zealand’s North Island, home to its most populous and developed areas, with about 1.7 million residents in the Auckland region. About 2.8 inches falls in an average January in Auckland, according to the MetService, while fall and winter are typically wetter; average July rainfall there is about 5.3 inches.

Fans leave Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on Friday. About 40,000 people had been expected to attend an Elton John concert. (Julea Dalley/AP)

Scientists expect that climate change will mean less annual precipitation for the Auckland region and northern and eastern parts of the North Island, but an increase in “very extreme” precipitation events for the entire country, according to a government report based on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The storms hit northern communities on the North Island just ahead of what is a holiday for that region, the annual observance of its provincial anniversary Monday.

The flooding forced organizers to cancel an Elton John concert just before it was scheduled to begin Friday.

Related:

Here are some “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:

Here is more climate and weather news from Sunday:

(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)

If you like these posts and my work please contribute via the PayPal widget, which has recently been added to this site. Thanks in advance for any support.) 

Guy Walton… “The Climate Guy”

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