Real world weather for New Zealand in MSFS is unfortunately limitied to METAR data sources from just three airports (NZAA, NZWN, NZCH), with interpolated lower resoultion Meteoblue data covering the remainder of the country.
After World Update 12, many users have been complaining about the incorrect snow coverage seen at sea level during mid summer around much of the South Island. This is a known bug due to the accuracy of Meteoblue’s New Zealand snow coverage data which results in a fallback texture set for snow being displayed on all surrounding mountaionus areas.
As a real world pilot with over 10 years flying experience around NZ, I thought I would create and share a series of downloadable presets that reflect typical weather patterns commonly experienced at various locations around the country to give simmers an fast and easy fuss free virtual flying experience.
These presets are best suited for localised VFR flying as the presets are universal and will not change when flying cross country between different geographical microclimates.
To install, just drag and drop the 'NZ Weather Presets' folder into your main Community Folder.
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NZ Weather - Alpine Anticyclone
Best for flying around the Southern Alps. Light winds at all altitudes, with high scattered cloud, light haze, 1cm snow coverage
NZ Weather - Christchurch Afternoon Sea Breeze
Typical weather pattern seen at NZCH from mid morning with a north easterly sea breeze setting in, perfect for arrivals and departures for runway 02. Above the friction layer (2000 feet), winds swing southerly, so anticipate a tailwind on final appaoch untill below cloud base.
NZ Weather - Christchurch Gusty Nor Wester
A commonly seen foehn wind that drops down from the Southern Alps and creates warn gusty north westerly winds over Christchurch. Runway 29 is the favoured runway for use unless you want a crosswind. Surface wind set at 290/14G25 with a temperature of 26°C and high cloud base aligning with the tops of the nearby mountains.
NZ Weather - North East Flow
Often seen in the North Island during summer, with a humid moisture laden airflow from the tropics bringing strataform cloud, rain showers and hazy conditions. Surface winds light north easterly, with upper winds increasing in strength, tending northerly.
NZ Weather - South West Flow
The most common weather pattern seen in New Zealand, with cooler denser air arriving over the country from the Southern Ocean. Few clouds at 2500 feet, occasional showers, but generally good visibility and stable flying conditions. Surface winds light south westerly, with upper winds increasing in strength, tending southerly.
NZ Weather - Typical Milford Sound
Milford Sound vary rarley sees snow to sea level, and due to the warm ocean surface temperature, it will never freeze into pack ice as currently shown with live weather in MSFS. This preset matches the current conditions at NZMF on the day of preset creation, with surface winds 130/5, few clouds at 2500 feet, broken clouds at 4000 feet, and light rain showers.
NZ Weather - Valley Fog
With calm anticyclonic conditions, widespread fog often sits in the shaded valley areas nearby mountainous terrain before the sun gets a chance to burn it off. This preset is best enjoyed just after sunrise, with the fog only extending up to 150 feet. Try flying from NZWU to NZHN to see great examples of the effect.
NZ Weather - Wellington Strong Northerly
Wellington Airport is famous for its strong wind conditions due to being located on the Cook Straight, a natural squeeze point for airflow between the North and South Islands. Fortunately the runway has been orientated into the prevailing wind direction, and whilst gusty, the wind is usually mostly headwind for runway 34. This preset has surface wind of 340/18G30 with broken clouds at 2500 feet.
NZ Weather - Mt Taranaki
A bonus preset, simular to the valley fog file, but has been designed to show off the Mount Taranaki stratovolcano on the North Island's west coast. Depart nearby NZNP, climb through the low level clouds and enjoy seeing the mountain revealing its peak through the overcast layer.
My father was a AirNZ Line Capt flying DC-10's just before AirNZ converted to the 747-400's .
One day in the early 80's he was flying both the NZ Minister of Transport (Iain McLaughlin) and the CEO of Air NZ (Morrie Davies) into Wellington for a meeting at the Beehive regarding the Erebus accident, along with the usual passengers.
https://www.erebus.co.nz/
This was about to hit the evening news on all channels. He described the winds to me as 'average to absolute sh1t'.
Being unable to land in crosswinds exceeding whatever the limit was for the DC-10, he entered a holding pattern ready to divert back to Auckland, waiting for ATC to give him a wind reading that was within tolerance before hitting bingo fuel. The wind was gusting crap constantly and after almost half an hour in the hold he finally heard the magic numbers and advised ATC he was going to land.
Being an ex-RAF Hunter fighter pilot he told me that he was always prepared for the landing but he needed to hear those magic wind numbers so he would be 'legal'. He touched down in horrendous winds that pushed one wing down so hard that a passenger stated ' I was just commenting on how good AirNZ pilot's are, then the wing almost hit the bloody ground!'
He burst a tyre during touchdown and made the evening news due to his VIP's on board. I remember this like it was yesteray, asking him ' Was that you??'.
His statement to the press was " The gusting winds and burst tyre made the landing a little more difficult than normal". I still have the clipping from the newspaper to this day.
Needless to say, the VIP's made their meeting,Jusice Mahon was being vindicated and there were no injuries, and despite some fragile passengers being possibly traumatised, all was OK bar replacing one tyre.
So yeah, Wellingon is known as the 'Windy City' in NZ for good reason.
9 days ago
CoolGunS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mxmFCw-Dig&t=0s
9 months ago
jingle
Thanks for this, makes NZ much more immersive. Could I suggest adding a couple of snowy ones for NZQN eg lighter & heavier snow. Thx 😊
11 months ago
PinnaclePilot
Hi...
Remove the earlier version of weather for New Zealand, the short files had to be copied to:
C:\Users \AppData \Roaming \Microsoft Flight Simulator \Weather \Presets.
??
1 years ago
The new version is just an easier way to install it. Same content in terms of weather files. Thanks
1 years ago
zkd0s
Marco1965
The original release had to be installed in a different way. Do I need to go back and remove the mods or will this automatically overwrite those mods? Thanks in advance.
1 years ago
Remove the ones previously installed; those aren't needed anymore, and just Place the 'NZ Weather Presets' folder included in this update into your Community Folder and your good to go.
1 years ago
Garciamk
benji53
Greatly appreciated, really makes for some fun and realism on a flight!
1 years ago
Dexdoggy
Thank you very much! These presets are great. When using them I almost feel flying there indeed. Thanks also for the update. I hoped you would do so. It's easier now to connect them with the other NZ mods.
Best regards
Ulrich
1 years ago
Addition:
I'm sorry to say: the new installation option causes MSFS to crash when loading the flight. I turned back to the initial release.
Another addition:
sorry for the inconvience - another mod must be the the fault ... Didn't find it out yet really ...
your presets are GREAT!
1 years ago
Ulrich11
Ulrich11
Excellent, thank you.
1 years ago
EnjonUK
Kia Ora! Thank you so much for those amazing presets. Milford Sound looks majestic as never before - finally gotten rid of this pesky snow&ice coverage.
1 years ago
WildBillKelso
Thanks for making these !! Excellent work, makes it more realistic for NZ conditions!
1 years ago
Cptrossco1
Thanks for these, the 'typicals' especially when you're familiar with the patterns. How about a howling Southerly, thinking WN 😊
1 years ago
Ooh yeah, Polar Blast has a good ring to it. I’ll add it to the to do list!
1 years ago
zkd0s
Crankpin
Thank you for making and sharing.
1 years ago
NapalmKiwi