You are not imagining it – this spring has been windier than most.
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer said on Tuesday data from the Ashburton weather station so far this September and October showed there had been 17 days where maximum wind gusts have exceeded 90kmh.
This compared to 13 days to the same period last year, 14 days the previous year, four days in 2022, and 10 days in 2021.
These figures pointed to it having been a spring with the strongest gusts for at least the last five years.
‘‘The weather set up this year has given us many strong northwesterly events followed by strong, although short-lived, southerlies,’’ Hillyer said.
‘‘Northwesterly winds, as I’m sure all you Cantabrians know, are the gustiest of directions for you.’’
Today, a red wind warning is in action across Canterbury with severe gale northwesterlies with damaging gusts of 140 km/h in exposed places and the potential to cause widespread damage including powerlines and roofs, with dangerous driving conditions and significant disruption to transport and power supply.
