A very cool resource to compare the weather in NZ with your home country
Are you considering a move to NZ? Do you ever wish you knew the difference in weather between your home country and NZ? Normal weather websites are heavy on short term weather forecasts but light on long term records. What would be helpful is a database of long term records, and a way to view them easily. I came across this recently and found it EXTREMELY helpful! The graphics provide tons of detail at a glance. This is what I learned about Wellington compared with my home town:
-Wellington has much more consistent cloud cover. My home town is always cloudy in winter and clear in summer. So Wellington will be cloudy a lot, but won't have the weeks of constant gloom that my home town does in winter.
-Wellington might have a bit more wind than the town that I grew up in. Yes, I came from a very windy area!
-My home town is relatively humid (for an inland location), but Wellington is more humid. Humidity in my home town cycles considerably during summer days, rising and falling as much as 40 percent. Wellington's humidity is extremely constant. (of course - it's coastal)
-Almost all Wellington winds come from the north, and south.
It takes a few minutes to set up the program:
1) Download "Climate Consultant 3" from http://www2.aud.ucla.edu/energy-design-tools/
2) Download the data for your location from http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings...ather_data.cfm in the EPW format (or if there is no EPW file for your location, download the ZIP file, unzip it, and you'll find the EPW file). There are only 3 locations available in NZ to date: Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington.
3) Open the Climate Consultant program, and browse to the EPW file you just downloaded.
4) Select the units you want, and play around with the program. You can open two instances of Climate Consultant 3 in separate windows and flip back and forth to compare your home town and a NZ location.
If you can wrap your head around the "psychrometric chart", it would provide helpful guidance to someone building an energy efficient home...
