General April Weather

[Orion]

Quite thick fog here at the moment: when I switched on the outside light I could see the droplets swirling about within a few feet.

Chilly morning, about 1.8°C for the Dawn Service which was very well attended.
Has been clear and sunny all day, up to 18°C.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

The Harvards just flew over here

We had a Tiger Moth fly overhead this morning for the local ANZAC service.
....anyway, another blue dome day with light variable winds. 16C for today.

[cbm]

Huge difference between EC and GFS (the runs displayed on windy away) for rain for the upper NI tomorrow. One will be proven correct.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Another blue dome day here in South Canterbury with light NE.
Good day for viewing the dinosaurs in MacKenzie Park here in Raukapuka.
18.6C for today.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Another fine and mostly blue dome day with a light northerly. Very pleasant conditions. 22.3C the maximum for today.

[spwill]

Grey Lynn with 44.2mm yesterday and early this morning.

Thunderstorms for the top of Northland tomorrow to finish a very wet April up there.

[Nev]

21mm here in the last 48 hrs.

I see a couple of central Auckland Council sites at Okahu Bay and Greenlane recorded 64mm and 62mm respectively in the last 48 hrs.
Going to be one of Auckland's wettest ever Aprils by the looks.

[Razor]

Metservice has issued watches for the upcoming system be interesting to see how this plays out


Heavy Rain Watch

Area: Northland north of Whangarei

Period: 14hrs from 10am - midnight Tue, 29 Apr

Forecast: Periods of heavy rain, with thunderstorms and localised downpours possible. Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria. High chance of upgrading to a Warning.

Impact: Streams and rivers may rise rapidly. Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions possible.

Action: Clear your drains and gutters to prepare for heavy rain. Avoid low-lying areas and drive cautiously. Preparedness advice.

Area: Christchurch and Canterbury Plains north of Timaru

Period: 48hrs from 3am Wed, 30 Apr - 3am Fri, 2 May

Forecast: Heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria. Moderate chance of upgrading to a Warning.

Issued: 10:39am Mon, 28 Apr
Next update: 9pm Mon, 28 Apr
Action advice supplied by the National Emergency Management Agency.

[spwill]

There will be the risk for thunderstorms for the west of the North Island later Wednesday, see how this looks in the models tomorrow.

The first decent snowfall of the year for the South Island high country mid week.

[Bradley]

Must be quite confident to put the watch out for ChCh 48 hours out, unlike the other day where they rightfully didn’t do one

[snowstormwatcher]

The first decent snowfall of the year for the South Island high country mid week.

There was snow down quite low around the Lindis pass area when I drove through 3 weeks ago with a few cm settled on the side of the road near the summit.

Looking at the models for this event it seems High Country snow is more likely In Mid and Northern parts of Canterbury rather than Central Otago or the Mackenzie.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Another fine and rather mild day, initially, but more cloudier this morning and earlier this afternoon with scattered mid-range cloud.
The westerly then SW then southerly change came through at a quarter to three this afternoon with the associated drop in temperature and not long after the clagg rolled in and by 5pm it was overcast and drizzly. Grey and drizzly conditions lasting from then on into the evening with 5mm by 10pm.
The winds dyed down during the early part of the evening.21.8C the maximum for today.
Looks like it may be a wet end for April here and places further north on the east of Te Waipounamu

[tornado]

intresting radar imagery.

image.png

plus current blizortung.

image.png

[tornado]

I am surprised theres not a warning on that line as its been training up there for a while now. slowly coming down. just had a shower here in takanini. not long ago.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Day not as bad as what was anticipated as it did clear a bit especially to the south this afternoon with the sun trying to appear at various times.
Some rain overnight but clearing away by dawn but remaining cloudy. Not much wind, if so from the NE.
Not warm with today's maximum only reaching 14C.
Clouding in this evening and becoming misty for a while

[spwill]

A lot of garden growth here this month with the wet and warm month. My garden is mainly sub tropical so does respond to warm wet weather this time of year.

Grey Lynn with 262mm, temperature mean of min15.6C-max 22.1C

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

A wet day for the last day of April with 64.3mm of rain falling for today. Raining continuously throughout although not that I would call heavy but steady rain. We cleared the leaves away yesterday so no flooding in our street but there was some puddling in some other streets close to ours.

[tornado]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland- ... GLLRLYZOM/


video of a dust devil at Auckland soccer park. interesting but the "mini" word again sigh.

[Kobi]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland- ... GLLRLYZOM/


video of a dust devil at Auckland soccer park. interesting but the "mini" word again sigh.

Why do they always use the word “mini” when referring to them? they seem to even use the word when it’s not just a “mini” tornado here as well

[tornado]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland- ... GLLRLYZOM/


video of a dust devil at Auckland soccer park. interesting but the "mini" word again sigh.

Why do they always use the word “mini” when referring to them? they seem to even use the word when it’s not just a “mini” tornado here as well

some of the media used the "mini tornado" term for the Levin storm a few weeks ago. I noticed it wasn't used for the mangawhai tornado in january though which i guess wasn't the right time to use the term given the damage there.

[Nev]

^ Dust devils are not tornadoes, let alone small, weak or 'miniature' versions of them.

[Nev]

April 2025 was not only a drought-breaker for Northland and Auckland, but one of their wettest Aprils on record.
Northland Regional Council's wettest site near Okaihau recorded 721mm for the month, with several other sites recording 500-700mm.
Auckland Council's wettest site at Dome Forrest (SE of Wellsford) recorded 434mm, with several other sites recording in excess of 300mm.

Auckland Council April 2025 Rainfalls.png

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/559 ... r-recorded

[Nev]

April 2025 also looks to be one of NZ's warmest Aprils on record, mainly due to successive Tasman low's dragging moist, warm air down from the tropics.

MetService Description of April 2025 - A wetter month across most regions

It was a wet and warm April across much of the country, with soil moisture deficits largely disappearing, apart from parts of Otago and Southland. This was caused by an ever-present low pressure anomaly across the north Tasman Sea, with New Zealand sandwiched between this feature and a slow-moving high further east, leading to slow-moving systems with no exit strategy.

A northerly low at the start of April delivered large amounts of rainfall to parts of the North Island and upper South Island, with both Taranaki and Tasman seeing 400mm of rainfall. Kerikeri received 108mm on the 3rd, which is in stark contrast to the previously monthly total of 24.4mm, and was more than it normally sees in the first four months of the year combined. Meanwhile, Westport saw 120mm that day which broke the daily record, and Foehn winds brought anomalously warm temperatures to parts of Canterbury and eastern Otago.

Periods of thunderstorms followed, with a possible tornado in Levin on the 6th and localised heavy rain. Attention then turned to Tropical Cyclone Tam, which developed on the 16th and moved southwards across New Zealand. This was a very slow-moving system which brought a raft of weather impacts, and an accompanying tropical air mass was dragged over the country with temperatures well above average. This helped generate numerous thunderstorms across the Auckland region on the 19th resulting in surface flooding, and Auckland ended the month as the second wettest April on record.

Most of the North Island copped large rainfall totals in April, with Whangarei seeing 402.7mm (previous record 345.8mm in 1974), Kerikeri saw 573.2mm (previous record 429mm in 1999), and many stations in the top five. Further south, Nelson and Blenheim recorded their third wettest April (222.2mm and 160.2mm respectively), and Christchurch saw their record shattered with 80.2mm.

The month ended with a bang as another moisture-laden low brought significant wind and rain impacts to many regions, many of which are still ongoing.

Apr 2025 Climate Anomaly Maps ℅ NIWA.png

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Stats for April.
minimum 1.9C Thursday the 24th
maximum 26.6C Friday the 4th
Highest minimum 13.3C Wednesday the 2nd
Lowest maximum 12.4C Wednesday the 30th
Rainfall total was 142.5mm over 18 days

Note: Rainfall totals in other parts of South Canterbury, courtesy of MS.
Levels 82.4 mm
Fairlie 118.4 mm
Twizel 74.4 mm