If the freezing level was lower than 1000 metres in Chch on Tuesday, the lapse rate (I think that's what it's called, in other words how quickly the free-air temperature drops with altitude) would've been very sharp, as temps were probably in the mid teens about that time in Chch.This photo is a sign of how cold the upper atmosphere has been over the South Island last couple of days. The Invercargill soundings indicated the freezing level around the 1000m level down there. But in your photo, the fzl looks to have been lower.
Active trough for Monday
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These topics are a read-only archive and may be subject to out-of-date information.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
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tich
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Thunder
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Like Ben I saw other bigger clouds that day with bigger virga type trails like can be seen in the pic above, pretty much most of them seemed to do this big rain (snow) swath stuff that day with only drops of rain reaching the ground, they were of biggish size but it wasn't intense by any means.
Aaron Wilkinson
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NZstorm
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Re the lapse rate.
Yes, you can get a very sharp lapse rate in a cold atmosphere at this time of year. I remember Gary reporting a maximum temperature of 23C from Omarama when the freezing level was quite low, from memory about 1300m(at Invercargill), earlier in Febuary.
Its been a cold month down south. I think the wine growers in Central Otago might lose out this year. The Queenstown area is very marginal for wine growing as it is.
Yes, you can get a very sharp lapse rate in a cold atmosphere at this time of year. I remember Gary reporting a maximum temperature of 23C from Omarama when the freezing level was quite low, from memory about 1300m(at Invercargill), earlier in Febuary.
Its been a cold month down south. I think the wine growers in Central Otago might lose out this year. The Queenstown area is very marginal for wine growing as it is.