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As gale-force winds and heavy downpours pummelled Auckland and other parts of the North Island on October 15, Whangaparaoa Peninsula was by far the windiest place to be.
Metservice figures show that on the peninsula, winds peaked at 104kph but were blowing in the 80kph and 90kph range for several hours, particularly overnight.
A Metservice meteorologist says that a deep low-pressure system caused very strong easterlies to blow into the peninsula, directly off the sea.
And although this was exceptional, in general, the peninsula is a windy place – with an average yearly ‘wind run’ of 460km. A wind run is the measurement of how much wind passes the Metservice sensors over a year.
The peninsula’s 460km compares with the average yearly wind run for Auckland airport at 398km, and Wellington airport at 589km.
Although Fire and Emergency NZ say that Silverdale fire attended two incidents of trees blocking roads, and the Manly brigade dealt with power lines down over a road, most damage reported from the October 15 weather system appears to be minor, with some flooding, difficult driving conditions, outdoor furniture knocked around and tree debris blown down.
On the plus side, a large number of kite surfers took advantage of the conditions, with some fast rides off Orewa Beach.
