LYTTELTON WEATHER APP INSISTS IT'S SUNNY AS SOUTHERLY TAKES BLOKE'S GAZEBO
MetService widget says 14 and clear. The gazebo is now in Diamond Harbour.
A weather app on a Lyttelton builder's phone was still showing a yellow sun icon on Wednesday morning, at the exact moment a southerly off the ice was relocating his gazebo across the harbour.
Site foreman Reuben Thackwray, working on a villa reno up Voelas Road, said he'd checked the app before smoko. "Fourteen degrees, light breeze, she'll be right. Then the frame lifted, the tarp went, and one of the apprentices went halfway with it. Had to grab him by the hi-vis."
Thackwray said he could see the front coming over the Port Hills like a grey wall. His phone kept promising a nice arvo for the washing. "Says right here, sunny. Meanwhile there's hail in me pie."
A neighbour two sections down, Marlene Cousins, said her app had told her it was 12 and partly cloudy while her wheelie bin did laps of London Street. "Partly cloudy my arse. I've got penguins."
MetService said the forecast was "broadly accurate for the wider Canterbury region" and that Lyttelton was experiencing "localised variation". Asked what that meant, a spokesperson said the wind was "a bit stronger down there, yeah".
The gazebo has been spotted on the Diamond Harbour foreshore. Thackwray reckons he'll pick it up Tuesday.
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Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
Heaps of hot air, literally!
Valerie.Richmond
Same story every winter! The weather reports are never accurate. Lyttelton gets its own climate it seems. I remember what happened in '89 when we tried building the new terrace house in Heathcote Valley. The winds were so strong they nearly swept Gerald off the scaffold. Ended up clinging to the structure like one of those flags! Good times, even if the MetService said it was sunny that day too!
wayne1987
Honestly, it's higher powers having a laugh at us. Lived in Christchurch my whole life and our weather is as changeable as a backpacker's itinerary. One minute you're sunburnt, next thing your umbrella's flying off to sea!
Nicky_the_Nag
Did the gazebo have insurance? This seems like a pretty open and shut case of Acts of God if you ask me!
lynette_from_sumner
Yeah, mate, good luck with the claim. Try explaining that one to the insurer when it's all their fault for not predicting the winds accurately, right?
couchgremlin
Penguins in the garden, classic Marlene! Call the wildlife trust next. They'll say to put them on the next ferry!
Garry (Halswell)
Can’t trust the tech, get outside and read the sky! Remember the old farmers, they didn’t rely on phones to keep their roofs on!
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