The Nor'west arch is a weather pattern peculiar to the east coast of For alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of Pacific Ocean. A common Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, popularly translated as Land of the Long White Cloud. New Zealand also maintains responsibility for the... New Zealand's South Island The South Island forms one of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the North Island. The Maori name for the South Island is Te Wai Pounamu which means The Greenstone Water (greenstone being jade). It has an area of 58,093 square miles (151... South Island. For this reason, it is also often referred to as the The New Zealand region of Canterbury mostly comprises the Canterbury Plains. Christchurch is the main city, which is also the seat of the Canterbury Regional Council (trading as Environment Canterbury) and the Christchurch City Council. Contents // Categories: Canterbury, New Zealand | Territorial Authorities of New Zealand | New Zealand geography stubs ... Canterbury arch. It is shown in an apparent arch of high white cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky over the The Southern Alps is a mountain range which runs along the western side of the South Island of New Zealand. It forms a natural dividing range along the entire length of the South Island, although the term Southern Alps generally does not refer to the entire range and separate names... Southern Alps, and is accompanied by a strong hot northwesterly wind simply known as The Nor'wester.

The northwesterly wind in the South Island is a A foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range. As the wind moves upslope, it expands and cools, causing water vapor to precipitate out. This dehydrated air then passes over the crest and begins to move downslope. As the wind descends to... föhn wind. Warm moist air from over the The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand and is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, discoverer of New Zealand and Tasmania. The British explorer Captain James Cook later extensively... Tasman Sea is pushed up by the presence of the Southern Alps, causing it to cool rapidly. Much of the moisture is dumped on the The West Coast is one of the Administrative Regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island. The Coast To most New Zealanders, the west coast of the South Island seems a land apart from the rest of the country. It is an isolated and remote... West Coast, and is responsible for the temperate A rainforest is a forested biome with high annual rainfall. Some cite a minimum normal annual rainfall of 2500 mm (about 100 inches or 250 centimeters), with normal rainfall at least 60 mm during each of the twelve months of the year. Others set the minimum annual rainfall barrier as... rain forests found there. As the air passes over the alps, the water vapour remaining becomes visible in a band of cloud over the mountains at the top of each wave of air. From the perspective of a viewer on the eastern side, this appears as an 'arch' of cloud. The standing wave or arch is caused by the moisture condensing and becoming visible towards the top of the wave and then evaporating again as the air descends to the trough of the wave.

The Nor'west arch can be seen from as far north as Amberley is a town located in the Hurunui District of north Canterbury, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 approximately 50 Km north of Christchurch. At the time of the 2001 New Zealand census of population and dwellings, the... Amberley, and as far south as The area known as Central Otago in Otago, New Zealand, includes the middle of the region but generally also most of the north_western portion (the Queenstown_Lakes District). This area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and tributaries. The wide flat plateau of the... Central Otago, but it is at its most prominent on the The Canterbury Plains is an area bounded by the foothills of the Southern Alps and the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. They are centered aound the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the... Canterbury Plains, due to the flat and low-lying nature of the land to the east of the mountains.

The Nor'wester, when it hits, is not only responsible for Canterbury's intermittent A drought is an extended period where water availability falls below the statistical requirements for a region. Drought is not a purely physical phenomenon, but instead is an interplay between natural water availability and human demands for water supply. The precise definition of drought is made complex due to political... droughts, but also has a deep psychological effect on people subjected to its hot, dry nature. It has been statistically linked to increases in suicide and domestic violence.

Research has indicated that the mechanism is a significant buildup of positive ions, strongest at the coast, and electric fields of this strength have been shown to upset the melatonin/seratonin balance in some people.

See also

• Categories: Aeronautics | Meteorology | Stub ... lee waves

External links

• Dr Neil Cherry's research (http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/neilcherry_lifestory_part9.html)
• Meteorological explanations of the Nor'wester (http://weather.northcott.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=46&limit=1&limitstart=1)
• New Zealand Meteorological Service Learning Centre (http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?pkey=190512&ckey=192956)