Ken Ring
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Supermoon coming soon
Not many know that the earth’s distance from us can vary each 27-day month by up to 20%. The timing of the closest point is called perigee. There are 13 or 14 perigees per year. The more visible full moon-new moon-full moon sequence is a separate cy...
June 14, 11:59 am -
Event Diary
Ken Ring predicts weather patterns from now until November.10 June, potential for heavy falls in Central NZ, Kaikoura and North Canterbury this week and fourth week of this month. 11 June, India begins third week of heat wave, still going by 20 June...
June 12, 5:45 pm -
Seek and ye shall find
Let us imagine our deepest concern is global unhappiness. Every street corner drunk, every downtrodden kid, wife-bashing victim and starvation statistic would soon come into our focus. Our belief in a miserable world would be sustained. These proble...
June 6, 2:17 pm -
What goes around
''Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hubIt is the centre hole that makes it usefulShape clay into a vessel;It is the space within that makes it useful.Profit comes from what is there;Usefulness from what is not there''-Lao TzuWe seldom blame language i...
May 28, 5:44 pm -
Why climate is unlikely to be changing
Humans walk at about three miles an hour, and run at around five. It is the shape and musculature of the human body that determines this. We are neither gazelles nor snails. If we went back a hundred or two hundred years to a busy street, we would ...
May 14, 11:46 am -
Severe winter ahead
This coming winter may pose problems for skifield operators because access roads to snowfields could be blocked for extended periods, making it a busy season for road gangs.Most cold snaps in winter occur around southern declinations (moon furthest ...
April 23, 2:46 pm -
Why we had a drought
The three factors that drive climate and consequently the weather patterns that a region can expect are the angle of the sun's rays (latitude), the direction of prevailing winds, and the topography of the location. The first sets the amount of heat ...
April 4, 5:49 pm -
Waves cause wind, not vice versa
75% of the earth's surface is ocean. The sea is joined to the ocean. The surface of the water is in a frictional interface with the air, and air and sea currents go in the same direction. Mainstream science says this is because the winds came first,...
March 28, 9:44 am -
Drought of commonsense
''"And it never failed that during the dry years the peopleforgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way."- John Steinbeck, East of Eden ''What is a drought? In Bali it is conside...
March 19, 9:02 am -
Cycles on the Sun
The sun is not the center of gravity of its solar system. Jupiter and Saturn are the two biggest of the sun’s planets. They combine with the sun to effectively define the center of mass of our solar system, the barycenter for the rest of the sun’s p...
March 12, 9:21 am -
Hang on farmers, rain is coming
This summer has been hot and dry and farms are beginning to feel it, although many have actually had occasional periods of rain. In January Auckland only had 4 light rain days, but Wellington had 10 rain days, with over 60mm falling in the 4 days be...
February 26, 6:27 am -
Cyclone years are predictable
In the late nineteenth century cyclones were named after annoying politicians. Following objections they were then variously named after the politicians' wives, as most women were assumed to be temperamental and unpredictable. In 1977 after protests...
February 13, 1:51 pm -
Long runs of fine weather over for the north?
The cicadas are subdued for this time of year, and with the arrival of predicted first-week-in-February rain, summer, if by that we mean long runs of sunny weather, has sadly almost ended for Auckland. Thankfully for families the torrential rain tha...
February 7, 12:43 pm -
Weather to come in 2013
Back in November we said the summer would be a scorcher. After a delightful December and a hot and dry January longrange forecasting appears stable and reliable. So what may be coming for NZ?February sees more unusually warm days, at or near the 2n...
February 1, 8:56 pm -
Nothing can warm the globe
There are many things we cannot control, like greed, lack of compassion and racism. If we could we would not still be grappling with these issues. Likewise we cannot control the globe or the climate. Climate is a child of the galaxy, as we ourselves...
February 1, 8:53 pm -
Just for the record
Our media reported that Sydney temperatures “smashed” previous records, marking Sydney’s hottest day “ever”, with bushfire warnings rising to extreme. Temperatures reached 45.8C in Sydney’s western suburbs, Penrith hit 46.5C and Camden 46.1C. The pr...
January 21, 8:18 am -
Is Summer about to end?
Sadly the run of dry weather could be about to end for Auckland this coming weekend, as northeasterlies prepare to take over after 18 January and then last for the rest of the month, bringing the potential for rain every few days. The ensuing north...
January 15, 8:58 am -
Moon winds
“Winds rise at the times of the rising of the Sun and the Moon. If the Sun or Moon on its rising cause the wind to drop, it increases afterwards its force”. - ‘Weather Signs’ by Theophrastus 335BC.In February 2001, it occurred to me that the tide of...
January 14, 12:14 pm -
Volcanoes do not change climate
Suppose we are trying to push over a brick wall. We have to get our body into a certain position to achieve that. It will not fall over by itself or by looking at it. Nature is never random, and just as organization is needed for any human event su...
December 12, 3:58 pm -
Are weather and climate different?
“Meteorologists will always give you wind” - Anonymous.The science of weather is inexact. Debate rages over how accurate meteorologists can be looking 50 and 100 years ahead, when they often fail to get the next day or week right.Weather forecasters...
December 7, 10:00 am
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Opinion
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Ken Ring
June 14, 11:59 amSupermoon coming soonNot many know that the earth’s distance from us can vary each 27-day month by up to 20%. The timing of the closest point is called perigee. There are...
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James Robins
June 12, 8:56 pmHey Ed, you can stay at my houseI have a one bedroom apartment in the middle of Auckland. It’s small but has character, and I have a spare mattress on which you, Mr Snowden, are mor...
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On the radar
May 22, 9:08 amBase jumper escapes death after parachute failsA base jumper who has performed more than 180 successful jumps is lucky to be alive.Matthew Gough's latest conquest would have been a 1,000 foot clif...
