Southwesterly blast?

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Tue 23/03/2004 17:45

Looks like the lower South Island will get (probably already getting) battered by wintry southwesterlies (gales?) bringing showers and hail. But doesn't look like much further north. We've been forecast a southerly change with showers this evening, but these systems don't always bring any significant weather to us. The change hasn't arrived yet - a warm northwesterly day in Chch, with some interesting northwest arch formations.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Tue 23/03/2004 17:59

Yes Ben, I have been checking the Invercargill rain-radar on the Southland weather site at http://weather.southlandnz.com/ and it looks like another dry SW coming through here later this evening or overnight.
Showers did look substantial over Southland however especially from 3pm onwards but they will probably run out of puff by the time they get here. Satellite show some gutsy showers cloud in behind but they should move on further out east. It's a bit equinoxical at the moment as far as the winds go.

JohnGaul
NZTS

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Tue 23/03/2004 18:01

Yes we got those today

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Tue 23/03/2004 19:46

Breezy westerly change to a much cold south wester around dinner time with one brief shower.

Temp dropping 12 degrees in a hour.

Temp now 8.8 degrees.
Pressure 996mb and rising.

Dean. · Unread post by **Dean.** » Tue 23/03/2004 20:50

The dry southwester arrived at 6.30pm here after a 24 degree northwesterly day.
Looks to be a fizzer.

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Tue 23/03/2004 20:59

Living the Motel life again in Invergiggle. Actually the heaviest rain was around 12.30pm to 1.30pm today with pretty strong winds.

Skies cleared about 4pm and now I'm just waiting to see if anything is going to blow in tonight.

Might head out to Oreti Beach with my anemometer later if the winds pickup, but I think they have done their dash. Cold though

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Tue 23/03/2004 23:33

Much cooler southerly winds through here this evening.
11C at 11pm here.
Yet again another dry southerly.
Should be much cooler tomorrow.
Roll on the next system

JohnGaul
NZTS

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Tue 23/03/2004 23:35

The change came through Chch this evening with a drop in temperature, a rise in the barometer, and a freshening of the wind. Has since become cloudy - a light shower beginning as I write.

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Wed 24/03/2004 07:43

Clear skies here but on the cool side temp over night was 4.2.
Light dusting of snow to around 700-800m on the ranges south of Alex.

On the cards will be another cold night with ground frosts possible

Chris Raine · Unread post by **Chris Raine** » Wed 24/03/2004 08:04

Currently hailing down here with 4 degrees and a 15 kt SW. Really cold for the time of year.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Wed 24/03/2004 08:27

Light rain at present in Chch and only about 8C. I notice single figure temps through much of the South Island on the 6AM obs. Early taste of winter.

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Wed 24/03/2004 08:50

Gales are starting to blow here again..as usual

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 24/03/2004 17:28

Looks like a chilly day in the South Island today, considering its March.
Christchurch just 13C today. Invercargill was 8C at 3pm.

Southerly due later in the weekend looks like a very cold one.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Wed 24/03/2004 17:45

The showers cleared midmorning, and it's been mainly fine since in Chch. But I noticed cloud building up to the north this afternoon. Thought it might mean a few more showers (not so much in the city, but in North Canterbury), but the radar showed nothing on the 3PM obs.

Like Steven said, a chilly day. If it was 4C and hailing earlier today in Invercargill, the freezing (and snow) level down there should've come down a bit lower than was forecast. Funnily enough

(according to Jeff's Weather Station Site' homepage) it got up to 35C in Chch on this day back in 1998!

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Wed 24/03/2004 17:57

Like Steven said, a chilly day. If it was 4C and hailing earlier today in Invercargill, the freezing (and snow) level down there should've come down a bit lower than was forecast.

Just had a look at today's 3 hourly temperature obs - no more than about 5C at Nugget Point, including the midday and 3PM obs.

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NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 24/03/2004 18:36

Yes, Nugget Point is a cold place in a south or southwester. But the elevation of the observation site is about 130m asl. So it is quite high.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 24/03/2004 19:39

Yes, well it wasn't so much of a dry southerly as I thought

as I got 1.5mm from the tail end of it this morning ... but it was a cold southerly. Even though I got up to 17.5C in the screen, the wind was cold when the sun was behind a cloud.
Clear sky now with no wind and it should get down to about 4C here overnight.
Today in 1998, I was 35.1C here

I finally tracked down Augie Auer on National Radio today at about 2:20pm. He's still adament about an oncoming La Nina weather pattern.

JohnGaul
NZTS

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Wed 24/03/2004 20:26

A VERY COLD day in the South today, 4c with hail in Invercargil this morning, Wow that's wintry and Christchurch reached just 13c.
I can remember in the early Eighties moderate snow falls to about 500m
in Coastal Otago and that was about the first week of March.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Wed 24/03/2004 20:51

17.5c looks anomalous John as the Airport metars got no higher than 13C.

On this day in 1998 the temperature range at Christchurch Airport was minimum 9C, maximum 36C. Timaru recorded 11-32C and
Dunedin 9-29C. Must have been a good N'wester hard on the heels of a cool southerly to get a diurnal range like that.

Auckland recorded 14C-24C. Today 16-21C.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Wed 24/03/2004 21:34

NZstorm wrote:17.5c looks anomalous John as the Airport metars got no higher than 13C.

Yes, very anomalous as my screen is located in a warm/cool site.
I see Jeff N got 15.1C at twenty to four this afternoon.
I use a 'Sixes" style of thermometer in my screen.

JohnGaul
NZTS

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Thu 25/03/2004 00:05

Yes, Nugget Point is a cold place in a south or southwester. But the elevation of the observation site is about 130m asl. So it is quite high.

The same can be said for LeBons Bay station on Banks Peninsula - it too is about 100 metres above sea-level, and was only about 5C early this morning. The weather should've been wet then (as it was in Chch) - who knows maybe even some sleet or snow falling on the tops out there. TV1 Weather mentioned falls as low as 500 metres in the far south today.
I wouldn't be surprised if some South Island stations record record low minimums tonight, including Chch. (pretty cold here now)

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Thu 25/03/2004 14:43

Really good day here in Chch, only up to about 18 so far but it's sunny with little to no wind. How's Auckland, mayby a SW breeze blowing? hehe.

Next week some time could see something interesting?

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Thu 25/03/2004 15:52

Bee-Bop day here with a strong SSW

The maps shows us for more gales in the weekend When will it end???

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Really good day here in Chch, only up to about 18 so far but it's sunny with little to no wind. How's Auckland, mayby a SW breeze blowing? hehe.

Next week some time could see something interesting?

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Thu 25/03/2004 16:28

A similar day in Auckland Aaron but we do have a Fresh SW wind, 18c now and got down to 15c last night.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Thu 25/03/2004 18:41

Michael wrote:

When will it end

NEVER, I'm afraid, Michael.

You'll just have to sit up and bare it

JohnGaul
NZTS