The mountainous land enclosing Cook Strait squeezes and speeds up the wind between the North and South Island. “The reason it doesn’t flow over the top is because the atmosphere is reasonably stable, so all that air that pushes against New Zealand can’t go over the top so it has to go through the gaps.”
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Is New Zealand really windy?
Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand’s charming city of Wellington on the very bottom of its North Island has a reputation for being very windy, and it certainly lives up to it.
Why is NZ windy?
With a lack of land to slow things down the wind whips up across the sea, fuelled by storms these strong winds swirl around Antarctica quickly. These westerly winds blast over the South Island and the lower portion of the North Island.North of that you’re outside of the Roaring Forties.
Which country is the most windy?
Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica
Commonwealth Bay is listed in National Geographic Atlas and the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest wind speeds in the world. The average annual wind speed is 50 MPH year-round.
What is the windiest city in New Zealand?
Wellington, New Zealand is the world’s windiest city, with an average of 22 days of over 74 km/hr (45.9mph) and 173 days above 59 km/hr (36.6mph) of wind speed. Sailors, windsurfers and kite-surfers come from afar to ride the winds of Wellington.
What is the least windy place in New Zealand?
Re: NZ’s least windiest place – Arrowtown?!
Reefton is also down bottom of all wind data.
Is Perth the windiest city?
Perth is the windiest city in Australia and the third windiest city in the world. The windiest point on Perth’s metropolitan coastline is Ocean Reef. Last night was no exception, at 10pm the Ocean Reef weather station measured winds at 106 km/hr.
Why is New Zealand so cloudy?
Why so cloudy? Moist, tropical air is being dragged over New Zealand for the next few days by a slow-moving low pressure west of the country. The clockwise rotation of this aged system pulls down moisture-rich air from the north, which quickly turns to cloud when it rises up over New Zealand’s rugged landmass.
What is the least windy place on earth?
I have done some research online, and I’ve found out that Antarctica has the calmest winds (lowest maximum wind speed) recorded on Earth.
Is Auckland windier than Wellington?
New Zealand sits astride the westerly wind drift. The capital is known as ‘windy Wellington’, but in fact average wind speeds there are not much higher than in other coastal cities such as Invercargill and Auckland.
Where is the windiest city on earth?
Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand, is widely regarded as the windiest major city in the world, with an average wind speed of more than 16 miles per hour.
What is the windiest city?
The windiest city in the United States is not the one nicknamed the “Windy City”. Among large cities, Chicago ranks twelfth for fastest average wind speed.
Windiest Cities in the United States.
| City | MPH | KPH |
|---|---|---|
| Boston, Massachusetts | 12.3 | 19.8 |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 12.2 | 19.6 |
| Buffalo, New York | 11.8 | 19.0 |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 11.5 | 18.5 |
Which countries are the windiest?
The following places have experienced some of the world’s most extreme weather and are among the windiest places on Earth.
- Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica.
- Wellington, New Zealand.
- Barrow Island, Australia.
What are the top 5 windiest cities in the world?
The 5 Windiest Cities In The World in 2020
- 5) St. John’s, Canada.
- 4) Dodge City, Kansas.
- 3) Punta Arenas, Chile.
- 2) Rio Gallegos, Argentina.
- 1) Wellington, New Zealand.
Is Perth the second windiest city in the world?
Perth is also the 2nd windiest city in the world (there must be some kind of competition going around), which makes it perfect for windsurfing, kitesurfing or whatever it is done when it is windy.
What is the warmest city in New Zealand?
Summer. Daily maximum temperatures are normally in the mid to low 20s (°C) over most of the country. They are higher in northern, eastern and interior part of the country; Hastings is the warmest city on average with 25.5 °C followed by Gisborne with 24.9 °C and Napier with 24.5 °C.
Which city in NZ has the best weather?
Kaitaia and Whangarei top the list with an annual average of almost 16C. Auckland is also up there, with an average of just over 15C.
Where in New Zealand is the best weather?
Sunshine. Most places in New Zealand receive over 2,000 hours of sunshine a year – around 83 sunny days. The sunniest areas, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Nelson/Marlborough, receive over 2,350 hours of sunshine. As New Zealand observes daylight saving, during summer months daylight can last up until 9.30pm.
Where is the sunniest place in NZ?
Whakatane
Based on the very latest weather statistics, Whakatane in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty district, is the sunniest place in New Zealand, averaging a whopping 7.4 hours of sunshine a day in 2020. The town also records higher temperatures than anywhere else in New Zealand.
Why is Western Australia so windy?
It’s because of the subtropical jet stream. A jet stream is an area of very fast-moving winds in the middle part of the atmosphere.The polar front jet stream is more evident in WA during the winter months in the South West while the subtropical jet stream is present for the whole year.
Which is the windiest city in Australia?
Perth
Perth can officially be called Australia’s “windy city” with a daily, year round wind speed of nearly 16 km/h, followed by Adelaide on 12.4 km/h.
