2008 Weather Extremes
| | Cat. |
Mint Unhinged |
Fine Used |
50c |
Drought / 1997 - 1998 El Nino Drought |
648a |
$0.90 |
|
$0.90 |
|
50c |
Wind / March 2007 - Wyndham Street, Auckland |
648b |
$0.90 |
|
$0.90 |
|
$1 |
Storm / January 2001 - Evans Bay, Wellington |
648c |
$1.80 |
|
$1.80 |
|
$1.50 |
Flooding / March 2007 - Hikurangi, Whangarei |
648d |
$2.70 |
|
$2.70 |
|
$2 |
Snow Storm / March 2001 - Ohai, Southland |
648e |
$3.60 |
|
$3.60 |
|
$2.50 |
Heat / Matarangi Beach / Coromandel |
648f |
$4.50 |
|
$4.50 |
|
| |
|
Set of 6 individual stamps |
648g |
$13.70 |
|
$13.70 |
|
| |
$8 |
Limited Edition Miniature Sheet with two 50 cent, one $1, one $1.50, one $2 and one $2.50 stamp (2,000 numbered copies) |
648h |
$198.00 |
|
|
|
| ... Six Stamps : 50c (648a), 50c (648b), $1 (648c), $1.50 (648d), $2 (648e), $2.50 (648f) |
| |
|
First Day Cover - 5 March 2008 |
648i |
|
|
$15.30 |
|
| ... 50c (648a), 50c (648b), $1 (648c), $1.50 (648d), $2 (648e), $2.50 (648f) |
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year
of Planet Earth to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences
for the achievement of sustainable development. To commemorate the Year of
Planet Earth and reflect growing concern over climate change New Zealand
Post issued a set of six stamps of extreme weather conditions experienced
in New Zealand.
The first 50 cent stamp shows the effects of the
1997 - 1998 El Nino drought. A drought is an extended period with
consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact
on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. The United Nations
estimates that an area of fertile soil the size of the Ukraine is lost
every year because of drought, deforestation, and climate
instability.
The second 50 cent stamp shows pedestrians on
Auckland's appropriately named Wyndham Street battling a westerley gale
in March 2007. New Zealand is hit by a tropical cyclone once every eight to
nine years but westerly gales are common in most regions with winds often
gusting up to 120 kilometres per hour.
The one dollar stamp shows
waves from a tropical cyclone storm surge at Evan's Bay, Wellington in
2001. The worst storms develop when the remnants of tropical cyclones
approaching from the north re-intensify as they collide with strong cold
fronts approaching from the south. The 'Wahine' storm in 1968 was
one such example. Early on the 10th of April, two violent storms merged
over Wellington, creating a single extratropical cyclone storm. The winds
in Wellington were the strongest ever recorded - at one point they reached
a speed of 275 kilometres per hour ripping the roofs off 98 houses in one
suburb and blowing three ambulances and a truck onto their sides as they
tried to go into the area to bring out injured people. The storm resulted
in the capsize and sinking of the 'Wahine' - an 8,944 gross tonnage
drive-on passenger ship in Wellington harbour. 53 of the 733 passengers and
crew on board died.
The $1.50 stamp shows stock trapped above flood
water on farmland at Hikurangi, a Northland settlement in 2007. Over ten
thousands homes were without power and isolated by closed roads as
torrential rain and wind gusts up to 180 kilometers per hour hit the
region.
The two dollar stamp shows a snow storm at Ohai, Southland
in May 2001. Snow is common in the south-east of the South Island, with
snow falling to near sea level most winters in Southland and around
Dunedin.
The $2.50 stamp features extreme heat. The eastern South
Island records the hottest summer temperatures, mostly due to North
Westerly Foehn winds generated by winds moving over the Southern Alps. A
Foehn wind is a dry down slope wind which occurs in the lee of a mountain
range. It is a rain shadow wind which results from the subsequent adiabatic
warming of dry air which has dropped most of its moisture on the windward
slopes. As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist
and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent
elevations on the windward slopes and can raise temperatures by as much as
30 degrees Celcius.
Bibliography
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume X |
Edited by B.G. Vincent FRPSNZ | Published 2013 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated (ISBN 978-0-9876534-3-7) | Pages 170 - 171 |
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This page was last updated on 27 May 2022
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