Thunderstorms 4th Feb

[jamie]

Thought thunderstorms didnt have a lot to do with the drought at present.

I see MS have a severe thunderstorm warning out for SE Waikato Taupo area and Rotorua for this evening. It will be interesting to see what pans out this afternoon and evening.

[spwill]

Partly cloudy 25C here, 18C dewpoints.
Some towering Cu around suggestive of some late afternoon heat showers in the Auckland area.

[NZstorm]

Yes, I have noticed some decent looking cu out there. Muggy 26C, no wonder the cu are trying to build.

You can see the coldest air on the sat image over upper SI.

[jamie]

The second there is a bit of cold air aloft, it looks like it is going to go nuts out there. The Cu's around are already trying.

Just hit 30 degrees so it sure has been a hot sticky one.

[spwill]

I see there has been a Thundery Cb along the kaikoura Coast.

[Paul Mallinson]

Some thunderstorm activity has been going for and hour or two in inland Marlborough and now a couple of slow moving thunderstorms have fired up southeast of Turangi and northwest of Napier.

Paul

[David]

Massive towering cumulus had developed to the south of here, maybe developing into a cb (but no thunderstorm). A pity the cold upper air couldn't have made it up here this afternoon, could have seen scattered spectacular thunderstorms develop, with the strong surface heating, high surface moisture and temperatures and this afternoon's sea breeze convergence. Could perhaps be an isolated downpour or two around this evening in the Auckland area?? We've managed a high of 27.3C out here this afternoon. Convergence looks to be to the SSW of here (we are in blue skies).
I must say this summer has been extremely disappointing convection-wise. Hopefully we'll see some action this month, or March?

[Paul Mallinson]

Lots of lightning between Taupo and Napier now. Can see tops at the 300km limit of Auckland and Wellington radars. Tops are about -43C - about 32,000ft or 10kms. Must be raining like heck below these as they are slow moving.

Paul

[jamie]

Some thunderstorm activity has been going for and hour or two in inland Marlborough and now a couple of slow moving thunderstorms have fired up southeast of Turangi and northwest of Napier.

Paul

No kidding, just went outside and was blown away by it to the south.. ill head out and take a pic

[David]

Towering cumulus, looking as if it has progressed a bit closer, hopefully will give us a shower later

[NZstorm]

Yes a line of strong t/cu across Auckland now (sea breeze front) and glaciation/heavy shower out over the SE of Auckland.

[jamie]

Dam cant find the big camera with the big lense so i had to use a crappy small one, and with the haze that has come about i cant get a shot thats worth posting.

There is a building Cu to the north of here. Maby North East of Huntly that is looking good at this stage.

[borris89]

some very big cb just north of here on the ranges but its clouded over so i cant see them anymore. id say it is raining very heavy under those clouds tho

[Michael]

Wind currently light SSW and quite black to the north and east,25c then we should get some more useless SW as the low passes towards the chathams during the week

[Manukau heads obs]

Just got back from Pukehoke
that CB over Clevedon way sure looked nice when it went up!
very hard edge and explosive updraft!

some more good cells going up now either side

[jamie]

Alot of massive Cu developing into Cbs at the moment. One looks to be over Ngatea ways, another just to the east of us, and some massive beasts down south east.

[NZstorm]

Nice shot of the t/cu going up there Brian. That cb didn't quite make the thunderstorm stage. Top got to around 25,000ft I would say.

[Manukau heads obs]

I just missed getting a shot of the cap cloud.....we were only 1km from home....the cap cloud only lasted about 1 minute!

[borris89]

just a picture of the top of one of the storms further north of here.

[Manukau heads obs]

Gisborne area must be getting a good CB!
strikes showing up on my tracker...
we seem to be under the influence of TC Gene...its destabilising things over the NI....with the strong upper level winds (part of the tail outflow)

[jamie]

Clouds building this side of the big Cbs down south east. So im thinking this is the cooler air moving north

[spwill]

Great to see those cb/cu towers along the seabreeze convergence line this afternoon, pic below.

Drove down to the Bombay Hills for a look south late afternoon but it all looked too distant for a chase.

[NZstorm]

Looks like Rotorua may get some action. Nice sunset coming up for Auckland.

[spwill]

Cb tower over North Waikato late this afternoon.

[David]

Wow! I see red and purple on the 7pm radar between Lake Taupo and Rotorua Lakes, HAIL???
Wouldn't it be great to have an episode such as in January 2002, where thunderstorms occurred somewhere in NZ on 22 days of the month. Sadly, I hadn't developed my weather interest at that age
Perhaps La Nina's higher temperatures and humidity don't necessarily give potential for a higher thunderstorm frequency, the La Nina Pattern seems to be 'shutting away' upper troughs and pools of cold air aloft which we should be seeing...