Thunderstorms for Christchurch 8th March.

spike_01 · Unread post by **spike_01** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:20

Michael wrote:
spike_01 wrote: He says the twister gradually died out as it headed back into the eye of the storm, then out to sea.

hahaha C&P... Dont shoot the messenger...

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1 ... ryID=91277

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:21

Drove out to Curraghs Rd to the SW of here at 8pm. Two storms, one to the South (near Rolleston ?) and another to the West. Saw some amazing lightning both IC and CG but not very frequent. Always seemed to be pointing the video camera at the wrong storm

Finally got dark enough to use the camera with long exposure but the heavy rain had started so I had to take the pics from inside the car. Managed a couple which at least are in focus this time

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:25

Very nice Steven!

Getting hit by squally showers here now

thunderbolt · Unread post by **thunderbolt** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:26

Here's my photos... Sorry, the only lightning was a bit of a big flash, no outline... possibly heading toward me. We just now had no wind, no rain, and then instant heavy rain! I wouldn't say torrential, but funny how it just started like somebody turning a tap on!

Had a wee bit of fun I guess....

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:28

Great photo's guys

thunderbolt · Unread post by **thunderbolt** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:30

BEAUTIFUL lightning Steven, AWESOME!

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Wed 08/03/2006 21:44

Nice pics thunderbolt. If your lightning "photo" is a video frame you might find there's more detail if you de-interlace it.

If it's a still camera shot then well done on getting any kind of lightning shot in daylight

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:00

Awsome photo's Steven!! Great stuff! And great stuff there to thunderbolt, should be good material as a CWW (NZTS?) meeting gets lined up towards the end of April.....

Now to see what awsome photo's John will provide!!

Me and 03 weren't as successfull tonight, the lightning just got too infrequent on dusk and the rain wasn't helping.

However, did get a possible gustnado but not really sure. Got it on video to also will upload a small clip soon. I'm not familar with gustnado's so it simply could've been some dust kicked up by the wind but it looked interesting.

Cheers

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:30

Well I may not have got any storms again overhead

but i was still snapping away getting lots of pictures.
Reports of heavy rain and hail falling over parts of the city atm but i think the storms are finished for this time round now who knows when the next cold blast will come this is our 2nd in the past week.
Cheers
Jason.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:33

And some more pics....
Cheers
Jason.

thunderbolt · Unread post by **thunderbolt** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:35

Steven Graham wrote:Nice pics thunderbolt. If your lightning "photo" is a video frame you might find there's more detail if you de-interlace it.

If it's a still camera shot then well done on getting any kind of lightning shot in daylight

Yeah, it's a video frame still, Steven. How do I de-interlace? Is it a camera setting or a data setting?

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:43

Saw the Waimate tornado on TV one news this Evening but the photo had been taken with a cell phone so not that clear.

Jasestrm, your first photo has distant Cb but the rest of the photo's are Cu,

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:56

Still waiting on the cold gusty SW - it is cold (6.2) but only a 5k NNW. We did have one hail shower about 7.00pm, (the hail was smaller than peas), so I suppose MS service would consider that an accurate forecast

Some good pictures on the forum tonight

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Wed 08/03/2006 22:58

thunderbolt wrote:[Yeah, it's a video frame still, Steven. How do I de-interlace? Is it a camera setting or a data setting?

Most PC video capture software will save a "still frame" as the combination of two "interlaced" video frames - the first frame is used for the odd lines and the second for the even lines.

A lot of photo editing programs (e.g. PaintShop Pro, Photoshop Elements) have a "de-interlace" command where you can choose which of the two video frames you want to extract from the still frame.

It's also best to save the still as a bmp to start with rather than a jpeg.

thunderbolt · Unread post by **thunderbolt** » Wed 08/03/2006 23:06

Steven Graham wrote:
thunderbolt wrote:[Yeah, it's a video frame still, Steven. How do I de-interlace? Is it a camera setting or a data setting?

Most PC video capture software will save a "still frame" as the combination of two "interlaced" video frames - the first frame is used for the odd lines and the second for the even lines.

A lot of photo editing programs (e.g. PaintShop Pro, Photoshop Elements) have a "de-interlace" command where you can choose which of the two video frames you want to extract from the still frame.

It's also best to save the still as a bmp to start with rather than a jpeg.

Ok.. will have a play.. Thanks!

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 08/03/2006 23:21

I had forecasted today to happen and it did

A 3 initially then upgraded to a 4 yesterday. I would of upgraded to a full 5grading if there was an influential onshore flow, ie. NE
The thunderstorm just before 6pm, there was a slight flutter to the east which helped this thunderstorm develop. The support from the south didn't eventute although it did look dramatic. It sort of died away. I did hear one or 2 claps of thunder from there but it wasn't as volitile as the thunderstorm to the NE of here , Sumner way?
Sferics were continuous right throughout and then just after 8pm, I saw the 2 beautiful lightning flashes to the south of here, veiwed from my front verandah. I tried photgraphing them on the digital camera but to no avail. My ordinary video camera packed a sad but the auxilliary one that Steven Graham gave me is stored in the container at West Melton (sorry about that Steven)
Thanks Steven for recording those flashes, they were the ones I saw

Thanks Aaron for alerting us on this.
I'll post some pictures up later

JohnGaul
NZTS

Manukau heads obs · Wed 08/03/2006 23:28

you did john forecasting it
great pics everyone, great to see some people getting action!
(just one squally shower here this arvo )

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Wed 08/03/2006 23:38

Here's a timelapse of that gustnado video. Looking at it again I'm fairly convinced it is one, going by other pictures on the net of them. It was on the leading edge of the gust front to which helps it's "gustnado" status.

Here you go. (322kb, 6 seconds)

Saw the video on the Waimate tornado at tvnz.co.nz, looks like a faily good looking tornado going by the cell phone video. Wish I was there, good no one got hurt of course.

Good going John! Yes you did mention it before me about today's possibilities, I hadn't looked at the models till Sunday morning for the past three days before that so only picked up on it then.

Also here's a few stills of some distant lightning, saw some nice big bolts at times however either didn't have video camera on or car window screen was all fogged up!

Cheers

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 08/03/2006 23:58

Some photos

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Thu 09/03/2006 00:05

This is the photo I tried to take of the lightning shot that Steven Graham recorded

JohnGaul
NZTS

Manukau heads obs · Thu 09/03/2006 07:09

i like it araon

there is a little cloud protusion that looked to have rotation

there must have been some earth works or bare soil near that house?

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Thu 09/03/2006 07:27

Manukau heads observer wrote:i like it araon
there is a little cloud protusion that looked to have rotation

there must have been some earth works or bare soil near that house?

The dust that formed the 'Gustnado' would have been behind the house, possible coming from a paddock or something similar then moving across.

I took a few pictures but I forgot to change the picture size/quality setting as I had used it the day before on the lowest resolution size!!

As Aaron said not a huge amount of lightning or hail for that matter which was abit disappointing, but he 'Gustnado' did make the day. The pictures I have uploaded are of the Gustnado, the Gust front of the storm as it went over and one that caught my eye of the dark clouds etc

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Thu 09/03/2006 07:30

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:This is the photo I tried to take of the lightning shot that Steven Graham recorded

The lightning shots were taken at 8:30 looking NNW towards West Melton/Halkett. I think you might be talking about the storm that was south of me. I saw similar lightning from it just after 8 but it was still too light to take a picture.

Great video, Aaron - it looks like it's rotating to me.

Got 14.8mm of rain overnight so there'll be a bit less dust about today

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Thu 09/03/2006 07:58

Interesting to see all the photos.

Yes, looks to be a gustnado Aaron.

Was the Waimate tornado spawned from a low topped supercell or was it more of a landspout?

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Thu 09/03/2006 08:11

NZstorm wrote: Was the Waimate tornado spawned from a low topped supercell or was it more of a landspout?

From first looks I would go with low topped supercell, thats just going off eye witness accounts and the fact that there was golf ball size hail at the time of the tornado.