Unstable low upper north Sunday/Monday

[NZstorm]

The upper air over Auckland becomes unstable after midnight as cooler upper air moves in but I can't see anything there that will push the air up. A cold front crosses Northland this evening and that should trigger a thunderstorm or two but likely all north of Auckland. But may see something interesting here tomorrow afternoon as the axis of the trough passes through.

[jamie]

Looks as though the central NI is in for some good snow with MS issueing warnings there. This site shows they are in for a lot aswell http://www.snow-forecast.com/maps/stati ... 3days/snow.

[tich]

Been getting some good heavy rain most of the day so far...not warm either

I'm not surprised, with the moisture moving down into the existing cold airmass. In fact, I see MetService has issued a heavy snow warning for the central North Island and Hawkes Bay ranges. Waiouru was to 2C by 6pm.

Showers kept plaguing outer Banks Peninsula today, even though Chch looks like it has cleared. Still very cold. I noticed a little sleet near Hilltop at about 350-400m asl. this morning. Only a light dusting of snow remaining on higher hills around Akaroa Harbour.

[jamie]

I wish they would sort out the auckland rain radar. We keep getting these bursts of heavy rain.
Doesnt seem to be alot of lightning around yet. Hope we get some tonight.
That is an impressive group of cb's behind the cold front in the tazzy at the moment.

[Vertigo]

they are nice, but my sat loop shows them dissipating. i hope to god something takes their place, or we wont get much activity out of this system.

[David]

Been raining persistently here since about 5.30pm (after a short dry break), since then we have had 12mm of rain. 5.1mm in the last hour, moderate with some brief heavier bursts. 28mm now...could reach 40mm if it continues for several more hours. 103mm rain in the last 6 days here - honestly, the ground has truly had enough!

I'm thinking there could be some big showers tomorrow, if no thunderstorms make an appearance.

[jamie]

WOW!!!!!!!! Did anyone else get that rain ?? Its still going at the moment!!!! Made the motorway come to a crawl and torrents of water running over it being splashed up by the cars. Im sure a saw a distant flash of lightning too. Must have had about 15mm in the space of as many mins. Can here sirens echoing in the city now.

[NZstorm]

Yes, torrential rain!

[spwill]

Some heavy showers tonight but a big downpour here currently.

[David]

Please send it this way!!! Rain has eased here from what is was half an hour ago

[jamie]

This rain is amazing..just as it looked as though it was easying it has picked up again.....wheres the radar when you need it most.
I see the St Helliers station recorded a rain rate of 56.6mm/h at 9.22pm

[Vertigo]

yea, LOTS of torrential rain here in penrose for the past half hour. very entertaining! must be a nice Cb above us to produce this.

BRING ON THE LIGHTNING!

[Myself]

It seems like Auckland radar goes down everytime we have any extended heavy rain? Is this so? And why?

Heavy rain on top of a radar dome can create nonsensical images. It's possible they shut it down manually in such instances to prevent the public from misleading themselves.

Edit: when I say "shut down" I mean shut off the images to public websites.

[Vertigo]

im fairly sure it went down during a lull in the rain.

[Vertigo]

lightning observed about 20 minutes ago, 3 flashes by my count, none for the past 10 minutes however.

[tgsnoopy]

Just got inside after digging out the drain... again.

We just got flooded again. I think that one made it 8 times in 8 years.

As would be typical the video camera and the digital camera had flat batteries.

Not sure if I got anything worthwhile, but will look again in the morning. Probably better shots to be had then anyway. Nothing like tidal marks to show the damage.

The precautions taken previously prevented ingress into the house, but it's a mess out there.

[NZstorm]

Last nights deluge was the heaviest rain I have seen for a year. Triggered by the passage of the cold front.

[Manukau heads obs]

I see Ricky got 46mm, and 2.67mm/minute at the peak
http://www.portunus.net.nz/weather/
we got 40mm here in total too !

also I see Foggy has recorded 40mm in Hamilton (still raining)

Nice CB just to the NW of the City now too

[tgsnoopy]

94.2mm/hr when it flooded us according to Kaimaikid's station.

Photo's will follow tonight.

[Manukau heads obs]

farmers are happy now about the rain
it can stop now

[David]

Like a repeat of Tuesday night here last night! After 56mm on Tue, we had 55mm yesterday! (ending midnight). I bet that doesn't happen in Auckland very often! And after a fall of 32mm in an hour last Tue, very heavy rain fell here again between 11.15pm-11.30pm, 12mm in that time. Max fall was 20mm in 1 hour at 11.40pm. Turned our section into a pond again. Shortly after, some lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder were observed to the east of here, before the rain eventually cleared. Now 132mm in the last 7 days.
Saw some mammatus formations this morning.

[Michael]

Like a repeat of Tuesday night here last night! After 56mm on Tue, we had 55mm yesterday! (ending midnight). I bet that doesn't happen in Auckland very often!
Cant you remember 1998 was like that.

[RWood]

Be careful what you wish for! You got it.

[Michael]

I'm not wishing it.I knew we'd pay for the Summer

[Brassnz]

We recorded 56mm rainfall for the 24hrs to 0700 today. A first for us last night: at around 10pm we lost "Freeview" reception due to atmospherics!

BTW, Metservice have a wee note on their website about the loss of the Akld rain radar - Telecom fault apparently, and hopefully restored around midday today.