Weather turning unstable over NZ

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Sun 25/05/2003 01:39

Ok, that's probably the only site I haven'e seen on hummers <G>, thanks Brian. But still, does anyone know if there are any in Auckland and if so how much are there?

Great game of rugby, Aucklands turn this year, we'll be back!

And your still getting lightning!, Once again not fair! (but I'm not moving to Auckland) the odd Ts that passes through here (Chch) will be more intense (I think on average) than the Ts that pass through Auckland, is this correct John?

Cheers
Aaron Wilkinson

Manukau heads obs · Sun 25/05/2003 07:13

i think not only can we beat at rugby,(but they acted like a soccer team at the end!) but we can beat you on thunderstorm activity ....sometimes... the cb's that develop here from heating or sea breeze convergence or upper level trough encouragement can be real intense, but the cb's embedded in a unstable westerly or SW or similar are not usualy all that intense, but then again, they are moving quickly......
i think generaly your cloud base is higher,and you have less othe scrappy clouds around, and so any cloud to ground strikes are more spectacular..
whadya reckon

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 25/05/2003 08:53

I like that assessment Brian. Severe thunderstorms are rare anywhere in NZ but the regions with highest incidence would be the Waikato/BOP and the SI West Coast. One interesting feature about Canterbury storms though is the propensity for hail formation. I would say Canterbury has the higest incidence of large hail in NZ (Rangiora,Oxford areas).

Lifted index over Auckland last night was minus 1.1 but since observation time things have changed. The barometer has lifted further and there has been a wind shift into the west suggesting the trough is now south of us.
Hence I don't expect thunder again today. Looks a nice morning out there.

For skew-t I use the storm machine

http://weather.admin.niu.edu/machine/sound.html

be sure to get the ob time correct 00Z or 12Z

Auckland NZWP
Invercargill NZNV
Wellington NZPP

GraemeWi · Unread post by **GraemeWi** » Sun 25/05/2003 09:22

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Great pictures guys, are you people using digital cameras or was it a quick trip for one hour processeing at the developers.

Digital here - Canon A40. My Nikon and Pentax SLR's are very underused these days, which makes me feel really bad considering how much coin they are soaking.

We had lightning well into the night, except we also had lots of mist rolling up from the valley which made photography pretty much useless as the mist reflected it so you couldn't even tell which direction the lightning was occuring.

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote: Also another subject (totally off topic), I'm a huge Hummer fan, have been for about two years now and was woundering if any of you guys up in Auckland have seen any and if so would you know how much there are up their.

I've seen a couple, maybe 2 or 3 around Auckland. I know for a fact that they don't fit down High St. hehe, they are the true definition of a Ponsonby tractor - way overkill for driving around the suburbs! How about a Dodge Ram? They are a little cheaper and more common...

Cheers,

G

Manukau heads obs · Sun 25/05/2003 09:28

i see a new low coming off ozy, but the models dont do much with it, but instead develop a nasty low to the east of NZ with a series of polar outbreak type troughs crossing the SI as a intense high moves into the tasman

there is a good model here:http://www.franksingleton.clara.net/grib.html tells more about GRIB
code
and
http://www.siriuscyber.net/wxfax/viewfax411.exe
downlaods VIEWFAX which is a good public domain GRIB viewer (shows
isobars +winds)

Once you have this program you can send an email
to [email protected]
no subject needed
containing the message
send grib:10S,50S,150E,140W|2,2|24,48,72,96,120,144,168,192,216,240|

and get GFS model output for the SOuth Pacific for next ten days.

Dean. · Unread post by **Dean.** » Sun 25/05/2003 11:57

Yes Brian,looks like the rugby power has returned to the north.
Just returned from a night away at Tekapo,the locals say the lake is in a much healthier state than it was 6 weeks ago with all the northwest rain in the past couple of weeks,they can see it filling up by the day.Yesterdays high in Tekapo only 4 degrees,with some light rain falling.Only light snow on the hills compared to the eastern foothills around here.
Cheers.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 25/05/2003 17:45

A couple more images to finish

Another shot of that morning storm over Hauraki Gulf looking very punchy.

A Cumulonimbus drifting away from Auckland about 5pm. As darkness fell there was a show of wildfire.(distant lightning)

Bye

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Mon 26/05/2003 08:03

Just add there is a story in the NZ herald this morning of a house that had lost its roof by a tornado near Cambridge. And an Auckland Harbour Master reports seeing 4 waterspouts in the Waitemata/Hauaraki Gulf on Saturday.

Manukau heads obs · Mon 26/05/2003 08:16

amazing

sad note:
I see neil Cherry has died

I took some climate papers under him at Lincoln University when I was doign my B.Ag.Sci degree,,,,,
He was a nice guy!

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Tue 27/05/2003 19:15

Hi

On one news weather tonight there was a picture of a funnel cloud taken by a thirteen year old, I'm guessing because of the storms up north it was up that way, couldn't hear where it came from (city, town etc) due to the family talking in the background with no remote at my side, I yelled SHUT UP!!! (they got the message - hehe), everyone went quite but I missed were it was (the photo) taken from. Does anyone know, and if so what day.

Cheers
Aaron Wilkinson

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Tue 27/05/2003 21:28

The picture of the funnel cloud was taken in Taranaki. Quite an impressive picture. I have observed a few around Auckland over the years but never photographed one.

The air has been a bit unstable right up the west coast of the NI today with isolated cb/heavy showers.