Rangiora sky delivers middle finger to MetService forecast of "fine, light winds"
One cloud. One suburb. One MetService app now sitting face-down on the bench.
MetService's promise of a fine Tuesday over North Canterbury was contradicted at 2.14pm by a single cloud parked directly above Rangiora's Good Street.
The cloud, described by witnesses as "grey and taking the piss", dumped what one local measured as "enough water to drown the cat" onto a two-block radius. Sunshine continued over Kaiapoi.
Doreen Blackwell, 71, had just pegged out a full load of sheets. "I checked the app. It said sun until Thursday. Silly bugger, me. Reminds me of the summer of '74. You'd hang the washing and the sky would open up like it had a grievance."
A MetService spokesperson said the forecast was "broadly accurate for the wider region" and that isolated cells were "difficult to pinpoint". Asked what Doreen should do about her sheets, the spokesperson suggested "a second rinse".
By 2.31pm the cloud had moved on toward Cust. Doreen's sheets remain on the line. She says she'll leave them there "out of principle", which she concedes is not a drying strategy.
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Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
Weather forecasts are a joke.
Sandra McKenzie
Rangiora always gets the short end of the stick! I remember when they promised us clear skies for the school fair, and it poured cats and dogs. Lost the sausage sizzle proceeds to the rain gods, and the kids were drenched all day. MetService ought to give us a backup plan for when their predictions turn soggy!
Garry (Halswell)
Why are people surprised? MetService's predictions are sometimes just educated guesses, and that's the best they can do with our fickle Canterbury weather!
couchgremlin
Lol.
MumOf3
Doreen should invest in a dryer. Sheets on the line only work in theory nowadays. Climate's way too unpredictable!
wayne1987
It's called weather for a reason. It's unpredictable by nature. Get over it.
weather_warned
Mate, this is all part of a bigger pattern. They want us to stay indoors! Less time outside, more control! We've all fallen for it. OPEN YOUR EYES!
ropeable_dave
Mate, it's just a bloody cloud passing through.
southern_skeptic
You think this is bad? Try living down south where the forecast changes every two hours like clockwork!
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