METSERVICE PROMISES FINE DAY IN DEVONPORT, ONE CLOUD DISAGREES
The forecast said sunny. The cloud said no.
MetService's forecast of a "fine day" for Devonport on Tuesday was contradicted around 11.40am by one cloud parked directly above the ferry terminal.
The cloud, described by witnesses as "dark grey and weirdly personal", dumped what locals called "a solid bucket's worth" of rain on a fifty-metre patch. The rest of Devonport stayed sunny.
Commuter Hana Faleolo, 34, had just stepped off the 11.30 ferry in jandals. "I checked the app twice on the boat. Sun icon. Got off and walked into someone's shower."
A woman eating chips on a bench fifteen metres away reported no rain. "Bone dry over here, love," she called out. Faleolo said this was "not helpful."
A MetService spokesperson said the forecast was "broadly accurate for the wider area" and that isolated cells were "a known feature of Auckland". Asked if the cloud would move on, they said it was "doing its own thing."
The cloud was last seen drifting toward Cheltenham Beach, where a wedding party had just set up chairs.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Kiwi weather at its finest.
tired_in_riccarton
MetService is a joke! I reckon they just flip a coin in the morning. I've missed too many dry walks because of their nonsense predictions. Now I just look out the window.
BryceThePunter
Mate, don't worry about it. Everyone knows MetService can't predict Auckland's weather if their life depended on it. It's like trying to guess the All Blacks’ lineup two years out.
cloudhats
Come on, it’s just a bit of rain. Good on that cloud for keeping it interesting. We wouldn't be talking about fine days, would we?
DavetheLocal
One cloud's a piss-take. But hey, that's what makes life interesting, right?
TrevorW_1962
Remember the freak hailstorm of '85 that hit Queen Street? Now that was weather. My old boots still haven't forgiven me.
GrahamTheGardener
Mate, that's Auckland for you. I remember a cloud in '79, hung around for about a week over my garden. Didn't rain, just loomed. Neighbours called it the "Neighbourhood Watch". True story!
SandraMcK
As if one cloud is the end of the world. Bet most of Devonport wouldn't even have noticed. Looked like they just wanted a bit of free publicity!
weatherwatcher72
Shouldn’t the MetService have mentioned the "weirdly personal" cloud instead of acting like it didn't matter?