General December Weather

[spwill]

keep an eye on Monday for the central North Island for thunderstorms.

Hope everyone had a great Xmas Day

[Dale]

Merry Xmas guys.. what a stonker over here yesterday, the temperature really ramped up around 4pm, got some light misty drizzle here this morning so the wx is running 24 hours late..
That big Cb last night, if it is the same one I was looking at from over this side Richard, it was an absolute belter around 8:30pm as I was driving north from Hokitika.. it was obviously lightning active around then, something would have been wrong if it wasn't & considering it was the only interesting thing which dominated the sky..

[Richard]

Interesting that you could see if from your side as well Dale,it would have been the same one as there was no other CB's west of that of it,grew a lot larger after i took the photo but died as the sun set.
Might be a few more buildups again today hopefully

[Richard]

Just pasted 30deg with a moderate westerly

[Dale]

See it.. you couldn't miss it Richard!
The drizzle (light rain at times) cleared just on lunchtime & it has been sun ever since.. with quite a bite to it. Haven't noticed much in the way of build-ups through a lot of the gunk around, but a couple of updrafts got going strong enough to have pileus caps on them.. was happy with that!

[melja]

Cracker day at westport races with the drizzle clearing at the start of racing then a hot humid blue dome day.
Great turnout and atmosphere.

[trickytiger]

recorded our max temp of 33 degrees at 5.38pm

[Richard]

recorded our max temp of 33 degrees at 5.38pm

Bit warmer than here on 31deg

[Thunder]

Here's the thunderstorm that developed late yesterday over the Molesworth Station area from Rotherham, North Canterbury. I had to present the storm of course

[Orion]

Great photos - elegantly presented

[Orion]

After some lovely summery temperatures these past few days, the smell of rain (currently falling) is delightful

[Tornado Tim]

LOL Aaron, Nice

I see Metservice are going for a Mod risk tomorrow for inland North Canterbury into Nelson.
Looks like there will be some capping but stuff looks like it could get going mid/late afternoon.

[Nev]

Chch Aero's 29.9C yesterday was its highest temp since last summer, and 4th highest so far this year.

[NZstorm]

Enjoying the weather in Central Otago at the moment. Looking drier here this year than when I was here last year.

I see 800 CAPE over the central lower North Island in the gfs for tomorrow.

[Richard]

Enjoying the weather in Central Otago at the moment. Looking drier here this year than when I was here last year.

I see 800 CAPE over the central lower North Island in the gfs for tomorrow.

Even stronger 1400 CAPE over NE Southland for 4,00pm Monday

[spwill]

Even stronger 1400 CAPE over NE Southland for 4,00pm Monday

That will be an error in the GFS model. Some times see this over inland Southland where the model over does afternoon moisture.

[Richard]

Even stronger 1400 CAPE over NE Southland for 4,00pm Monday

That will be an error in the GFS model. Some times see this over inland Southland where the model over does afternoon moisture.

Ok ,that rules out a quick trip down to Southland out then

[Dale]

Lovely steady rain here overnight, very welcome after the last few days. Could very well be some stormies going up around the Nelson area later, moisture isn't a problem thats for sure, it is trying it's hardest to clear off but as Tim said above.. if the caps holds out.....

[Richard]

A few CB's starting to develop to my west around to the north

[Richard]

And looking towards Hanmer

[jamie]

Was a 5 min funnel cloud above nawton in Hamilton just now

[Nev]

Quite an upgrade to last night's T-storm Outlook for this arvo…

MetService - Thunderstorm Outlook

Valid to: Midnight Monday 29 Dec 2014
Issued at: 8:20pm Sunday 28 Dec 2014

Updated at 8:20pm Sunday (note, a low risk of SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS has now been included).

Daytime heating, low level moisture and sea breeze convergence is expected to generate showers in many inland areas, especially the south and central North Island and the upper South Island. Some of these will be heavy, with a moderate risk of isolated thunderstorms during the afternoon and early evening about inland parts of Buller, Nelson, Marlborough and the far north of the Canterbury high country as well as over the central North Island high country extending south to the Tararua Range, as indicated on the map.

These thunderstorms are expected to be slow moving and hence will produce localised heavy rain of 10 to 25mm per hour. There is also a low risk of one or two of these thunderstorms becoming SEVERE and producing localised downpours of 25 to 40mm per hour, especially about the central North Island high country,including inland parts of Taranaki and Whanganui. Rainfall of this intensity can cause localised surface and/or flash flooding as well as make driving conditions hazardous.

No thunderstorms or significant convection expected elsewhere.

MetService T-storm Outlook Map - Dec 29, pm.png

[Richard]

Quite an upgrade alright,no low risk areas though which may well change in this mornings update

[Nev]

And this morn's upgrade for later today…

MetService - Thunderstorm Outlook

Valid to: Midnight Monday 29 Dec 2014
Issued at: 8:21am Monday 29 Dec 2014

Daytime heating, low level moisture and sea breeze convergence is expected to generate showers in many inland areas, especially the south and central North Island and the upper South Island. Some of these will be heavy, with a moderate risk of thunderstorms during the afternoon and early evening about inland parts of Buller, Nelson, Marlborough and the far north of the Canterbury high country as well as over the much of central North Island high country extending south to the Tararua Range, as indicated on the map. There is a high risk of thunderstorms about the west of the central North Island high country,Taumarunui and Taihape and parts of Taupo, Waitomo, Taranaki and Wanganui as indicated.

These thunderstorms are expected to be slow moving and hence are likely to produce localised heavy rain of 10 to 25mm per hour. There is also a low risk that one or two of the thunderstorms over the upper South Island and in the high risk area over the North Island will becoming SEVERE, producing localised downpours of 25 to 40mm per hour. Rainfall of this intensity can cause localised surface and/or flash flooding as well as make driving conditions hazardous.

No thunderstorms or significant convection expected elsewhere.

MetService T-storm Outlook Map - Dec 29.png

[Captain Salty]

I notice that afternoon convection is quite common in that upper south island area. What are the factors there?