squall ...LOOK OUT!

Manukau heads obs · Wed 17/09/2003 16:29

we just had a major squiall go through
exttreme conditons!
absolute white out with extremely heavy hail/rain, winds of 48 knots and visibilty only 5 metres or so and frequent lightning and thunder.....
amazing stuff
power tripped off a few times
if you were in a car, you would have to stop!
temperatrue driopped 5 oc with the passage of the front!

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Wed 17/09/2003 16:37

Its now arriving here in Manurewa with the wind to go to the "Gale Direction" anytime too

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Wed 17/09/2003 16:44

Oh man!! Yes we had a thunderstorm the other day but what you had sounds way more exciting!! Mayby Steven Williams will have some pics! Or even you brian, I remember you putting some pics onto the forum a while back. How frequent was the ligthning? every minute, 30 seconds?

Cheers
Aaron Wilkinson

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Wed 17/09/2003 16:54

Here it was about 5 times over 15 minutes with lighening 1st by about 5 seconds and rolling across the sky

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 17/09/2003 17:59

I was working at Dannemora(not far from Manukau) and noticed the static on the am band about 4pm. Storm moved through around 5pm with some
great lightning. Some very loud thunder claps.
Like Brian I observed squally conditions with hail in the storm.

Photo below is of the storms arch just a minute or two before the precip started around 4.50pm.

Cumulonimbus arcus

GraemeWi · Unread post by **GraemeWi** » Wed 17/09/2003 18:21

I got hammered on the North-Western motorway on the way home - amazing rain and gusting wind. Frequent lightning though couldn't hear the thunder due to the loud rain on the windscreen. Has the camera out on the dashboard but nothing to take a picture of except the car barely visable in front of me.

Looks like another line about to go through your place Brian - 6pm radar shows it a couple of km off the west coast.

G

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 17/09/2003 19:22

I took this stiched up photo panorama of the Thunderstorm over Manukau about 4.40pm. I wish I could have got pictures of the upper cloud buildup. Would have been a great cb.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 17/09/2003 19:54

That westerly squall on 6pm radar has just gone through here with very heavy rain and slight hail. Gusty, perhaps 45kts. Clearing now.

Manukau heads obs · Wed 17/09/2003 21:00

yes, we got the second front, and another temperature dip
see:

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 17/09/2003 22:52

Jim Hickey mentioned nothing about this squall on the TV One weather this evening, only the fact they had thunderstorms in New Plymouth, his home town.
As Aaron said, looked like exciting stuff!
Shame no lightning shots.

JohnGaul
NZTS

Manukau heads obs · Thu 18/09/2003 06:19

i was out getting the cows in for milking, and could see it coming
wish i had a video camera of the wall of white rain coming over the hills....
but i was just trying to get to cover....and only just made it back to the shed!

jrj · Unread post by **jrj** » Thu 18/09/2003 08:31

Jim (mind your umbrella!) Hickey did make reference to a hailstorm at Manukau Heads on last night's weather. My immediate thought was "lucky Brian!"

Manukau heads obs · Thu 18/09/2003 09:27

great he did that

Thats because I phoned up bob mcdavitt 5 minutes after it went through, and the met service issued a squall warning after that...
also, they have some new software that showed hail at the harbour entrance....but the signal station master did not get much hail....and others in the district did not get like we did....

but the sifnal station did get equipment damaged by lightning, and recorded 58 knots (107kmh) ,which is not much for them, but it was combined with the torrential rain....

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Thu 18/09/2003 13:06

Same here James. As soon as I heard Jim Hickey say hail at Manakau Heads I thought, Brian must off phoned up one news or something. I guess I was close.

I emailed Pete Mcghee from up in Northland with the subject header being "Did you get the squall!!", and this is what he replied with.

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive

...Flat out at the moment, but I'll get back to you with all the juicy
details (and a FC pic) on the weekend.

Cheers
Pete

Can't wait to here back from him!

Also, cool pics Steven. Nice and thunderstormy looking, fantastic!

Cheers
Aaron Wilkinson