Welcome to Extreme Weather 2005

What does one do when you are surrounded by fog?

If you are stuck at one of many airports in New Zealand this week, you needed a good book, your ibook, your ipod and a power point to re-power up like Scotty.

Fog, fog and more fog, has hit New Zealand like a golf ball aiming for the tee, in full force. Yet in downtown Dunedin, you will find it is clear blue skies, and not a breath of wind.

40 degree heat waves hit inland regions, such as Alexandra where last week the town's temperature records appeared to be broken.

And then there is the sudden arrival of a lonely lost King Penguin, 1 metre tall, on the West Coast north of Punakaiki, and lonely seals on the local beach.

The air is humid, and drippy and you would think you might be in Hong Kong or Auckland.
But no, this is south of the border, in the South Island of New Zealand, fondly known for its bitter winters and roast meals on a Sunday night.

Somehow the washing manages to dry.

It feels cool yet warm.

And still no sign of a public solar heating implementation scheme on the government agenda.

The weather has caused an aurora over the city of Dunedin recently and reported to be the most amazing site seen for two years.

The sea feels like it has warmed up by about 10 degrees some people are saying, in a very short space of the time. Meteorologists report the weather is due to a flow coming down from the sub-tropics.

All about the same time as Melbourne gets a dramatic drop in temperature and snow in the mountains with pelting rain hitting the city.

As this goes to print, Cyclone Meena is about to hit the Cook Islands in the South Pacific with winds already gusting and expected to get up to 160kms per hour, and waves 11 metres tall.

The same sort of damage is expected, last experienced in Darwin, Australia in 1974.

Does anyone care?