Over the last forty years technology has provided the meteorologist with an increasing number of sophisticated sensing devices, giving atmospheric data previously unobtainable. The sheer volume of atmospheric information now gathered each day would be impossible to collect and use, without the accompanying systems of automatic recording, high speed dissemination, and computer processing. This is especially so, in the observations made for the analysis and forecasting of global weather systems. Whereas Southern Hemisphere meteorologists were once resigned to dealing with large data-sparse ocean areas, the position now is more hopeful.

The Meteorological Service has gradually obtained the means to take advantage of much of the information provided by the new systems. Acquiring the data on which it depends for its operations, has always been by far the most expensive part of maintaining the Service. If the instrumental and administrative costs, plus the charges for communications, are apportioned between the main activities of the Service, then the acquisition of data takes just under half the annual expenditure. [NOTE: Information as at 1986, the year Sails to Satellites was published.]

From its earliest days the Service has obtained the basic observations within New Zealand from whatever source it could. It had relatively few paid observers, and of those making the observations, the majority were employees of some other organisation such as the Post Office, Marine Department, Local Bodies - or private individuals, who through interest made daily observations. Our knowledge of the rainfall distribution would not be as detailed as it is without the hundreds of voluntary observers, and the use of modern devices has not made simple conventional observations obsolete. Dr Knight or Sir James Hector would find much in the numerous climatological enclosures around the country, with which they had been familiar.

There are three broad classes of weather observations with which MetService is concerned:

• those made at both the surface and in the upper air at various levels, primarily intended for charting the movements of weather systems - the so called synoptic observations made at internationally agreed times for weather analysis and forecasting. To these must be added the information from meteorological satellites, drifting buoys and aircraft used for the same purpose;

• those used for the study of climate; and

• special observations made for research purposes (see Research)

[Excerpt from chapter 6 of Sails to Satellites: A history of meteorology in New Zealand by J.F. de Lisle]

Even before the first systematic meteorological observations were started in 1861, a large amount of weather information had been gathered about New Zealand and its surrounding seas. This came first from the early explorers, and later from visitors, missionaries and settlers. The European navigators from Tasman onwards, recorded the day-to-day weather in their logs and journals. Published accounts of the experiences of early visitors to New Zealand's shores can have left little doubt, in the minds of those who followed, that our coasts and seas are subject to violent and not infrequent storms - coupled with alarming and rapid changes in the weather. Almost all found themselves once, and some many times, fighting desperately for survival.

Although the recording of weather at sea was a matter of routine, the instructions given to the commanders of exploring expeditions usually made specific reference to the need to report on the meteorological conditions experienced with the discovery of new land. Abel Tasman was ordered to '... carefully note ... what winds blow in these regions, ... what changes of monsoons, rains, and dry weather you observe. . .', and encountered two storms during his stay off the west coast of New Zealand from 13 December 1642 to 6 January 1643.

The British Admiralty's instructions to Capt. James Cook, 127 years later, made no reference to meteorological observations. However the Royal Society, which looked after the instruments for recording the transit of Venus from Tahiti (the prime purpose of the expedition), included: 'A barometer bespoke of Mr Ramsden ... and two thermometers of Mr Bird ...' Ramsden and Bird being two well-known instrument makers of the day. Banks said of the thermometers, that they were '... two of Mr Bird's after Fahrenheits scale, which seldom differ above a degree from each other and that not till they are as high as 80, in which case the medium between the two instruments is set down.' Unfortunately we are not told whereabouts in the ship the thermometers were read or how they were exposed.

After completing the transit observations at Tahiti, Cook sailed southwards and then westwards, and on Saturday 7 October 1769, sighted land in conditions of light winds and settled weather. In 176 days around the New Zealand coast in the spring and summer of 1769-70, the Endeavour experienced the full range of coastal weather, from a near fortnight of delightful spring conditions soon after sighting the east coast of the North Island, to five weeks of storms encountered in rounding North Cape over Christmas-New Year. Of this latter experience Cook wrote: 'I cannot help thinking but what will appear a little strange that at this season of the year we should be three weeks in getting 10 Leagues to the westward and five weeks in getting 50 Leagues for so long it is sence we pass'd C. Brett but it will hardly be credited that in the midest of summer and in the latitude of 35 such a gale of wind as we have had could have happen'd which for its strength and continuence was such as I hardly was ever in before.'

The Endeavour was not the only vessel endangered by that succession of storms in northern New Zealand in the summer of 1769-70. On 12th December 1769 the French explorer de Surville in the Saint Jean Baptiste
sighted land just south of Hokianga and made his way around North Cape beating against north-west to north gales, finding himself in perilious situations on a number of occasions. De Surville anchored in Doubtless Bay where once again he was in danger, when north-east gales caught him on a lee shore and anchors, cables and a dinghy were lost. As soon as possible, he sailed eastwards to South America. Monneron, a supercargo on the Saint Jean Baptiste commented: "In a country so much exposed to storms as New Zealand we could not possibly expose ourselves by remaining there longer — to lose the only heavy anchor we had left...".
Marion du Fresne's ill-fated expedition was on the northern coast of New Zealand in 1772 while Cook's second voyage was in preparation, and his vessels also had trouble with north-west gales in their attempt to double North Cape.

Two astronomers accompanied Cook's second expedition, William Wales in the Resolution and William Bayly in the Adventure. The instructions from the Board of Longitude to Wales included the following:

4. You are to note the height of one or more thermometers placed in the Air & in the Shade early in the Morning and about the hottest time of the day, and to Observe also the height of the Thermometer within the Sloop near the Watches; and to make Remarks on the Southern Lights if any should appear; and to make experiments of the Saltiness of the Sea and the degrees of Cold by letting down the Thermometer at great depths, as you may have opportunity ...
8. Wherever you land ... Observe the height of Barometer once at least every day ...

The expedition was furnished with 'every instrument necessary for the undertaking of the best sort and constructed by the most aproved makers.' In addition to six thermometers and two portable barometers, there was a marine barometer by Mr Nairne, a wind gauge invented by Dr Lind of Edinburgh and made by Mr Nairne, and an apparatus for trying the heat of sea water at different depths.

On his second voyage, Cook used New Zealand as a base for his great probes into the South Pacific in search of the southern continent. The Resolution spent nearly seven weeks in Dusky Sound in the autumn of 1773 and three periods, of about three weeks each, in Queen Charlotte Sound in the early winter and late spring of 1773, and in the spring of 1774. This time the complete meteorological logs were published. While interesting, the instrumental observations are unfortunately of little scientific value: the thermometer screen had not been devised at that time and, although the thermometers were not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, the need to shield them from radiation and to provide adequate ventilation was not appreciated. This is seen from a comparison of the noon observations made on the Resolution and Adventure, when they were anchored together for over two weeks in Queen Charlotte Sound. The recorded temperatures on the two vessels were often very close but on several days differences of 8-9 °F were found and not in any systematic fashion. The barometer readings were similarly unreliable. Although the average pressure difference was less than one millibar, differences of 3 to 5 millibars were not uncommon and once reached 8 millibars.

The object of Cook's third, and last, voyage was to search for a northern passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. New Zealand simply represented a convenient place for refreshment, and nearly a fortnight was spent in Queen Charlotte Sound. The instructions issued by the Board of Longitude regarding meteorological observations were the same as for the second voyage, and the equipment was similar, except that no anemometer was taken. This instrument — a simple manometer — was insensitive in light winds and difficult to keep vertical and steady. The complete meteorological log of the third voyage was published by William Bayly in 1782.

With the publication of the accounts of Cook's voyages and the scientific results, the general character of the weather around the coasts of New Zealand was fairly well established. While the recorded temperatures were not too reliable, they were good enough to show that extremes of heat and cold were uncommon, unless that is, the seasons Cook spent in New Zealand had been exceptional.

A dozen exploring and scientific expeditions visited New Zealand in the next sixty years. All made regular meteorological observations, and the published accounts of several of the voyages included the complete logs. The first of three which deserve mention, was that of HMS Beagle, which spent the last ten days of 1835 at the Bay of Islands. The Beagle's commander, Capt. Robert FitzRoy was to become New Zealand's second Governor in 1843 and Superintendent of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, London, in 1853. He compiled the meteorological section of the narrative of the voyage. The Beagle's master was E. M. Chaffers who in 1839 was appointed to command the Tory, the New Zealand Company's emigrant ship. Chaffers became Wellington's first harbourmaster and compiled 'Sailing Directions' for Cook Strait, which included information on the wind of the area.

The published meteorological log of the Beagle's voyage contains a novel notation for some of the information included. The strength of the wind was indicated by a number on a scale of 0 to 10, which was presumably an early version of the Beaufort scale, which in the form of a 0 to 12 scale was officially adopted by the Royal Navy in 1838. The state of the sky and the weather were also recorded in Beaufort notation, e.g. b = blue sky, r = rain, etc. The appendix to the published account of the voyage also included plates illustrating various types of clouds observed.

In 1838 a United States expedition, comprising five ships under the command of Charles Wilkes, sailed south with the object of extending knowledge of the Antarctic. Wilkes spent the first months of 1838 in the
South American sector of the southern oceans and the rest of 1838 and 1839 among the islands of the South Pacific. At the end of 1838 he set off from Sydney to probe the Australia-New Zealand sector of the Antarctic, unaware of Balleney's discoveries in that area; and after returning to Sydney, three of the expeditions's ships (Vincennes, Porpoise and Flying Fish) set off at intervals for the Bay of Islands, on their way to a further two years research in the Pacific.

The most interesting part of Wilkes' account of the weather in New Zealand is the record of a probable tropical cyclone, which passed over northern New Zealand towards the end of February 1840. The site and movement of the storm were later reconstructed from observations made on several ships, and this represents the first 'synoptic analysis' made in New Zealand. It is worth quoting in full:

'These islands are in the track of severe hurricanes which occasionally pass over them, particularly the northern part near the Bay of Islands. One of these occurred during our stay; it happened on the 29th of
February and the first of March 1840. For the development of this gale I am indebted to the inquiries of several gentlemen of the Expedition, who were at the Bay of Islands when it occurred, and to the kindness of the masters of the vessels who were caught in it. We have five positions where observations were made, three to the north, and two to the south of its track, viz; at the Bay of Islands, on board the Brigs, Victoria and Camden, H.B.M. Ship Herald, lying in the River Thames [actually in the Waitemata Harbour] and the Flying Fish, one of our squadron; their relative position will be better pointed out by their
latitudes and longitudes which were as follows, viz.;
Camden                31      S       174 07 E
Victoria                 33 30 S       171 50 E
Bay of Islands        35 17 S       174 17 E
H.B.M. Herald        36 49 S       174 43 E
Flying Fish             40 30 S       178 30 E

From these positions we ascertain that the storm had a diameter of five hundred miles, from the latitude of 31° to 40° 30' south. We also observe that its track was south-southwest and that its velocity was twenty miles an hour. Its centre passed just to the southward of the Bay of Islands, at which place there was a calm of ten minutes, when the storm recommenced with equal violence from the opposite quarter; the trees that were prostrated at the Bay of Islands were found lying with their tops to the northward ... It was one of the most destructive that had occurred at New Zealand, the water rising to a great height, and overflowing a part of the island which had before been thought beyond the reach of the sea.'

The log of the Herald in Waitemata Harbour shows that the barometer readings fell from 29.5 inHg at 5 p.m. on 29 February to 28.75 inHg nine hours later; and that the wind rose from force 4 to force 12 and did not drop appreciably until midday next day. The log entry at 2 a.m., 1 March reads: 'Blowing a hurricane, the wind veering in tremendous gusts from E by N to NNE. Observed the pinnace swamp astern. Struck top gallant masts and braced the yards round.'

In 1838 a meeting of the British Association recommended that magnetic observatories be established in various localities throughout the world. This led to the setting up of a major naval expedition to the Southern Hemisphere — a four-year voyage of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, under the command of Capt. James Clark Ross. Ross arrived at the Bay of Islands in the middle of August 1841 and stayed there for three months. A magnetic and meteorological observatory was set up on shore and Ross remarked:

'... as any information respecting the nature of the climate of this newly-colonised country cannot fail to be useful, and as the importance of meteorological inquiries appears hitherto to have been wholly overlooked or neglected, I may hope, by inserting here a monthly abstract of the observations made on board our ships during the three months they were at anchor in the River Kawa Kawa, to contribute in a small degree to the beginning of an inquiry, which if carried out for a few years must prove of great advantage to the settlers in the management and improvement of their farms; for everyone must be aware how intimately connected the various states of the atmosphere and the consequent changes of the weather, are with all the more important operations of the agriculturalist.'

Observations of temperature, pressure, wind and weather were made hourly, and the published abstracts consisted of daily means of the observations plus the highest and lowest temperatures and pressures each day.
Ross went on to compare the climate of the Bay of Islands with that of London. From his temperature measurements (and the assumption that the mean temperature of the three spring months is approximately the same as the mean annual temperature), Ross surmised the mean would be about 59 °F at the Bay of Islands. This is about 10 °F higher than London's annual mean and is not far from reality. The total rainfall for the three months from mid-August to mid-November was measured at 25.36 inches (644 mm) with one 24 hour fall of 5.5 inches (140 mm). Ross noted that this was more than twice the rainfall given by Dieffenbach for Wellington, for the same period. The comparable present-day thirty-year normal for Keri Keri in the Bay of Islands is only 15 inches (381 mm), so that even allowing for some question about the exposure of the rain gauge, it is evident that Ross was in the Bay of Islands during a very wet period; but his general conclusion that the spring rainfall in the Bay of Islands is considerably higher than that of London, is certainly valid.

Acting on instructions, Ross also made some soil temperature measurements. On 18 October 1841, five pairs of self-registering (maximum and minimum) thermometers, packed in suitable vessels, were buried in the earth at depths of one, six, nine, and twelve feet, and left for twenty-five days. The mean of the one foot temperatures was 61.5 °F — and by comparison the 9 a.m. earth temperature at Keri Keri for the same months over the period 1947-1960 is about 62 °F! The mean temperature at twelve feet was 59.4 °F and the temperature of the water at the bottom of a thirty- five foot well containing 6 ft 4 inches of water at Waimate was 58.8 °F. These figures confirmed for Ross his estimate of about 59 °F for the mean annual temperature of the Bay of Islands; but he added: 'This is, however, a point of considerable importance to have determined accurately, and the observations should be continued throughout several years before this can be accomplished'.

Ross's 'Voyage of Discovery and Research' was published in 1847. In 1848 his account of the climate of the country was reprinted for the information of Otago colonists in the Otago Journal, although the editor omitted to draw attention to the difference in latitudes between the Bay of Islands and Otago. However by this time settlers, Government and New Zealand Company officials, and others, were beginning to accumulate experience of New Zealand and to write about weather conditions in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth.

[Excerpt from chapter 1 of Sails to Satellites: A history of meteorology in New Zealand by J.F. de Lisle]

Government involvement in meteorology in New Zealand started in August 1861 when the Colonial Secretary, William Fox, instructed Provincial Superintendents to establish observatories for meteorological instruments which the Colonial office would send. Regular readings were to be taken and summaries published. The Auditor General Dr Charles Knight was appointed to control the scheme.

The Colonial Office had been urged by numerous people to begin a program of scientific observations to put an end to the controversy over what New Zealand’s climate was really like.

In 1842, Charles Heaphy had published a book in London based on his experiences in New Zealand in which he claimed that summer in New Zealand lasted eight months and winter only two. He allowed that there was a rainy season in winter that lasted several weeks, but that in summer and autumn, the rain that fell did so mostly at night. He accepted that the wind in Wellington could be boisterous, but never so violent as to do material injury to a field of corn.

The next wave of settlers’ letters home painted a considerably harsher version of New Zealand’s weather, discouraging some potential immigrants.

1861 was also the year gold was discovered in Gabriel’s Gully in Otago. It was the first of a series of major gold rushes that saw New Zealand’s non-maori population almost double in three years growing from 98,000 to 171,000 by 1864 and contributed significantly to a surge in the economy.

Illustration:- Heaphy’s painting of Mt Taranaki/Egmont.

Caption- It is likely that Mt Taranaki was covered in cloud when Heaphy painted it. Not wishing to show the cloud he left it out and had to make up the shape of the mountain from hearsay – about as accurate as his description of New Zealand’s climate.

Changes in the weather were a hazard to ships in New Zealand waters, particularly ships loading or unloading in exposed anchorages. On 3 February 1868 the ships Star of Tasmania, and Water Nymph and the ketch Otago were all wrecked at Oamaru – caught out in shallow water when a storm blew up from the southeast. This storm affected a large part of the country, wrecking 12 ships, causing flash floods and taking at least 25 lives.

In 1869 a proposal by James Hector for telegraphing weather reports was implemented by the Telegraph Department and the observations were taken by telegraph operators.   This proved unsuccessful either because the telegraph operator’s observations were not accurate enough or were not taken close enough to the coast to be representative of conditions at sea.

Captain Edwin of the Marine Department, in consultation with Hector, proposed improving the system by having the observations taken by Harbor Masters and, in addition, trying to forecast the weather following the methods of FitzRoy (link to blog) as outlined in his Weather Book. In 1874 the Marine Department took over the system and Edwin began issuing storm warnings on an experimental basis.

Edwin had joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1853. He was wounded at the siege of Sevastopol at the age of 15 while serving as a midshipman on HMS Albion during the Crimean war. He eventually rose to the rank of Commander in the Navy, before retiring in 1871 to take up a post with the Marine Department, primarily as an examiner of masters and mates seeking certificates of competency. 

A report to parliament in 1875 on the success of Edwin’s forecasting scheme contained letters from Harbour Masters with their impressions of the usefulness of Edwin’s storm warnings. Typical of the response is the following comments from Captain Sewell, Deputy Harbour Master in Oamaru:

“I am of the opinion that about two-thirds of the storm warnings received at this station have been correct; the warnings failing were chiefly for bad weather from the westward, which failings may be accounted for by the position of the Horse Range and Kakanui Mountains, they, being to the south-west and west, shelter Oamaru and district from some of the westerly weather experienced farther south, the mountains deflecting the winds down the Waitaki and Shag Valleys.”

From Napier, Mr Wilkie at the Port Ahuriri telegraph office sent these remarks:

“During the last three months I have paid particular attention to the warnings telegraphed by Captain Edwin, and have found them correct in nearly every instance. The most correct predictions as regards the winds here have been those predicted from south-west round northerly to north-east, the winds from south-west to east not blowing home here into the bight of the bay.

Regarding predictions for southerly and easterly weather, I have ascertained by enquiries from captains of vessels that they were very often correct on the main coastline outside of the bay, although not felt so far in as this. I have also noticed, after many of the predictions for south-easterly weather, that a heavy south-east sea would come into the bay, although we had very little wind here.

As nearly as I can judge I should think the warnings were correct in about six instances in every seven. I may also state that the captains and owners of vessels here highly appreciate Captain Edwin’s endeavours, and they are now placing great dependence on his predictions, as some of them have experienced considerable benefits from attending to his warnings.”

While from Captain McLellan, the Deputy Harbour Master in Lyttelton:

“I beg most respectfully to state that the warnings received by me from Wellington during the last twelve months were of great importance to the safety of shipping in this harbor; the warnings being in most cases correct, and only out in N.W. winds, from which direction shipping in this harbor receives very little damage.

I may state that in nine out of twelve of the warnings received, they were perfectly correct. I may also state that the last severe S.W. gale, as warned from Wellington at 2.45p.m. on the 4^th inst., was the means of my securing all vessels at the wharves; by which warning the shipping in this port received no damage, and was the means of my not allowing a ship called the “Cicero” to be removed in to the wharf, as she could not be secured before the gale came on.”

Most of the other letters were similar, often acknowledging that when storms did not result in the harbours they could be seen to affect waters some distance offshore.

The only sour note was struck by Mr Ellis, the weather returning officer of the Auckland Harbour Board, who, while acknowledging that “many gales blow along the coast never reach half-way to Auckland”  went on to say “I believe it to be almost impossible to foresee the weather in Auckland at Wellington.”

Judged a success, Edwin’s warning system was established on a permanent basis.