Becoming Dry

Archive of General Weather
Forum rules
These topics are a read-only archive and may be subject to out-of-date information.

For today's weather discussion head to: New Zealand Weather & Climate
NZ Thunderstorm Soc
Posts: 18488
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 22:08
Location: Raukapuka Geraldine
Has thanked: 1769 times
Been thanked: 1412 times

Becoming Dry

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

I went out to our new property near West Melton today and noticed that because of the boring winter we have had so far, especially over July and August, the place is starting to look a bit dry.
Growth is being established on the paddocks but I noticed the little brook on the property was dried up, or should I say drying up because of the lack of moisture needed to keep the stream flowing.
We need some good rain here so that summer will be not a very dry one.
What the future holds I am not sure as weather patterns have become quite erratic over the past few years.
Will we see another December like last year or will it be January, when we move our house there???

JohnGaul
NZTS
Manukau heads obs
Posts: 12305
Joined: Mon 10/03/2003 16:30
Location: West Coast Road, Manukau Peninsula, North Island
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

in the same boat up this way too
july was the only month with average rain since last december or so....
unless we get alot of rain in the last week of august, which is unlikely as its only likely to be showers on and off after the first rain eposide, then august will be another dry month (up this way)
its like an elnino in some respects, but not like one in alot of otehr resepects

blame it on global warming (check out thawing in alaska and anatartic peninisular lately...its seems to be here...
Image
Brian Hamilton, weather enthusiast. My weather dataEmail: [email protected]
User avatar
NZstorm
Posts: 11333
Joined: Mon 10/03/2003 19:38
Location: Grey Lynn, Auckland
Has thanked: 342 times
Been thanked: 361 times

Unread post by NZstorm »

NIWA suggest a wetter than normal spring is on the cards for Canterbury. But they were predicting a milder than normal spring too, which is a contradiction as rain often comes with lower temps in the east of the South Island.

As for Northern NZ, a drought may well be on the cards. Rainfall from these westerlies has been light recently and I suspect that will be the trend.
NZ Thunderstorm Soc
Posts: 18488
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 22:08
Location: Raukapuka Geraldine
Has thanked: 1769 times
Been thanked: 1412 times

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

Digging trenches today for cable laying, I noticed that the ground wasn't all that bad as far as moisture goes, but then it could be worse off if the predicted(by me) the 'bad' weather dosen't come by the middle of this month :roll:

JohnGaul
NZTS
User avatar
tgsnoopy
Posts: 3653
Joined: Fri 25/03/2005 21:17
Location: Tauranga, NZ (Curse you COVID-19 :-( )
Has thanked: 816 times
Been thanked: 283 times

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

The NZ Scanners group this morning carries a report of a tornado overnight in the Hokitika area, a roof blown off and fire responding to assist?? Where did that come from?
Thunder
Posts: 2068
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 19:47
Location: Mt Somers
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 41 times

Unread post by Thunder »

Yeah, no thundery activity or anything. There is some lower level unstable air but up above seems stable. Another one of these non thundery tornadoes from lowish topped clouds, shear doesn't seem anything marvolous either? Oh well, another to add to the list.

Cheers
Image
Aaron Wilkinson
User avatar
Storm Struck
Posts: 4859
Joined: Wed 17/11/2004 21:25
Location: Belfast Christchurch
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 373 times

Unread post by Storm Struck »

Found this on the tornado news report id say an F0-F1 at most wat others think?. 8)
here's report.
A tornado that tore through Hokitika early this morning has left shaken residents in its wake.


The tornado was less devastating than the vicious tornado that hit Greymouth early this year but caused damage to homes and property.

Hokitika Fire Service chief fire officer Wayne Thompson said the brigade was called out about 12.45am as one resident lost part of their roof and also sent another appliance out as calls came in from distraught residents with smashed windows.

The tornado picked up a truck parked outside motels on the main street and dumped it on its side and continued on to smash windows in houses throughout Hokitika.

After passing through Hokitika the tornado made its way to Westland Milk Products where it ran out of strength.

Operations manager Hugh Little said no damage had been caused at the dairy factory.

Cheers
JASON.
User avatar
NZstorm
Posts: 11333
Joined: Mon 10/03/2003 19:38
Location: Grey Lynn, Auckland
Has thanked: 342 times
Been thanked: 361 times

Unread post by NZstorm »

Hokitika winds as observed at midnight last night.

PPBB 54113 93614
90012 02021 35031 34529 90357 34027 33025 33025 909// 32020 914//
32058 9248/ 29056 26567 9349/ 22508 30517 945// 28545=|

Surface 020 21kts
1000ft 350 31kts
2000ft 345 29kts
3000ft 340 27kts
5000ft 330 25kts

Some shear there.
Thunder
Posts: 2068
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 19:47
Location: Mt Somers
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 41 times

Unread post by Thunder »

My Bad

Yes NZstorm, looks to of been some reasonable shear there. When I commented on shear above I pulled up a skew-t from READY for midday today as it's the closest one I could get to 12z Sunday night (the models had updated at this point). I shouldn't of been so lazy and should've had a look at the archived skew-t for midnight on Sunday, of course 12 hours is going to make a difference Aaron! doh!. And yes, it shows better conditions regarding shear. And also, it may not have been any more unstable but clouds may have got higher in the atmophere by the looks of things

Cheers
Image
Aaron Wilkinson
User avatar
TonyT
Moderator
Posts: 2878
Joined: Thu 08/05/2003 11:09
Location: Amberley, North Canterbury
Has thanked: 352 times
Been thanked: 1146 times

Unread post by TonyT »

NZstorm wrote:Hokitika winds as observed at midnight last night.

PPBB 54113 93614
90012 02021 35031 34529 90357 34027 33025 33025 909// 32020 914//
32058 9248/ 29056 26567 9349/ 22508 30517 945// 28545=|

Surface 020 21kts
1000ft 350 31kts
2000ft 345 29kts
3000ft 340 27kts
5000ft 330 25kts

Some shear there.
Yes, but...

Its hardly dramatic is it, I mean if tornadoes always developed with a shear profile like that then there would be dozens of them all over NZ every day. It looks more like to me a barrier jet at 1000ft (note how the speeds drop off from 1000ft up) which probably got sucked down to the surface rather than a true (rotating) tornado.
User avatar
03Stormchaser
Moderator
Posts: 4428
Joined: Tue 09/12/2003 12:11
Location: Prebbleton
Has thanked: 104 times
Been thanked: 184 times
Contact:

Unread post by 03Stormchaser »

TonyT wrote:
NZstorm wrote:Hokitika winds as observed at midnight last night.

PPBB 54113 93614
90012 02021 35031 34529 90357 34027 33025 33025 909// 32020 914//
32058 9248/ 29056 26567 9349/ 22508 30517 945// 28545=|

Surface 020 21kts
1000ft 350 31kts
2000ft 345 29kts
3000ft 340 27kts
5000ft 330 25kts

Some shear there.
Yes, but...

Its hardly dramatic is it, I mean if tornadoes always developed with a shear profile like that then there would be dozens of them all over NZ every day. It looks more like to me a barrier jet at 1000ft (note how the speeds drop off from 1000ft up) which probably got sucked down to the surface rather than a true (rotating) tornado.
So you think it was a downburst? or microburst?
To create a downburst at the ground, the downward (downdraft) speeds in the thunderstorm must be unusually high, and this downward flowing air must penetrate close to the ground. These conditions can be met when the boundary layer air is relatively dry, and when there is plenty of falling precipitation
NZ Largest Storm Chasing Facebook Pagehttp://www.facebook.com/nzstormchasers
NZ Largest Storm Chase Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/NZStormchasersGroup
NZ Stormchasers TV https://www.youtube.com/@NZStormchasers
NZ Thunderstorm Soc
Posts: 18488
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 22:08
Location: Raukapuka Geraldine
Has thanked: 1769 times
Been thanked: 1412 times

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:
Yes the Alps had that sort of "Wet" look about them today with that rainband along it. However, it looked too shallow for thunderstorm development. You could see the foothills through eastward protubering showers.

JohnGaul
NZTS

Maybe there were thunderstorms? The MetService lightning tracker shows a bit of activity in that area.

JohnGaul
NZTS
Thunder
Posts: 2068
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 19:47
Location: Mt Somers
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 41 times

Unread post by Thunder »

I think that little cluster of thunderstorms was within the past five days but not today. The metservice tracker holds data for 5 day's at a time.

Cheers
Image
Aaron Wilkinson
User avatar
Willoughby
Site Admin
Posts: 4433
Joined: Sat 14/06/2003 16:18
Location: Darwin, Australia: Storm city
Has thanked: 264 times
Been thanked: 288 times
Contact:

Unread post by Willoughby »

Quite a bit of heavy rain on the SI West Coast, today tomorrow and Thursday. Heaviest rain moving up from Hokitika now with strong NNE
Image
NZ Thunderstorm Soc
Posts: 18488
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 22:08
Location: Raukapuka Geraldine
Has thanked: 1769 times
Been thanked: 1412 times

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

not much for here tho' :x

JohnGaul
NZTS
Locked