Snow to low levels in the South

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Wed 11/08/2004 21:50

Great shots Aaron - when I get a digital camera, I'll be taking shots of any interesting weather. Nowadays with a film camera, I generally shoot only if it's really spectacular, and I can get a view not blocked by trees and buildings.

Noticed (from TV1 footage of today's army tragedy - Unimog truck going off a cliff, probably partly caused by ice and snow) a dusting of snow on Banks Peninsula hills.

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Wed 11/08/2004 23:15

We had a good dusting on the hills this morning, down to about 350-400m. We would have had good flurries here this morning about strangely enough I wasn't up this morning at 5.30am when the snow came through

. You can see the dusting on the morning pictures of my webcam.

The westerlies picked up later in the morning and most of the snow didn't stand a chance.

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Thu 12/08/2004 00:27

Roll cloud eh, thanks

. Whats a gust front then?

Thanks people regarding the pics. Yes Ben, I was much more carefull in when and how much photos I took with my film camera. With the digital I can be a bit careless waking off photos one after the other, but it is great though!

I also saw the snow on TV1 (Banks Peninsula), I was a little surprised it was there then heard some of it fell as part of the front that went through this morning.

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Thu 12/08/2004 08:05

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Roll cloud eh, thanks . Whats a gust front then?

A roll cloud is what enables you to see where the gust front is.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Thu 12/08/2004 09:40

Great photo's Aaron, a change of air but running well ahead of the main precipitation. How long after did the rain or showers arrive.

Heavy overnight rain here in Queenstown has washed away our winter wonderland

with the snow level now back up to about 1200m but the snow will return late Friday. fine weather here from Sunday.

Snow to low levels should move up Eastern parts of the South Island this weekend and at this stage it looks like maybe more there mid next week.

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Thu 12/08/2004 13:53

Hi Spwill

After the roll cloud / gust front (thanks Tony / Steven) went through it was about another 10 - 15 minutes until it started to rain.

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Thu 12/08/2004 14:32

Interesting what "xtra msn" weather says for Chch and Dunedin today. Every other forecast disagrees, don't know why its like that.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Thu 12/08/2004 20:55

Prognosis charts for weekend into next week look very wintry. Sea level snow is a distinct possibility in the south.

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Thu 12/08/2004 21:12

NZstorm wrote:Prognosis charts for weekend into next week look very wintry. Sea level snow is a distinct possibility in the south.

Yep this period looks to have the best chance for wide spread snow falls to low levels throught out the lower and the mid south island.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Thu 12/08/2004 21:53

Yes, the charts show plenty of snow on the way.

Have some heavy rain in Queenstown tonight and with the snow melt there must be a lot of water going some where.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Thu 12/08/2004 23:02

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Interesting what "xtra msn" weather says for Chch and Dunedin today. Every other forecast disagrees, don't know why its like that.

Yes lots of overseas TV weather forecasts tend to over emphasize the thunder aspect in there forecasts.
If there is a possibility of rain, they put a lightning flash'
It's a bit like the 50s/60s movie picture scenario, everytime time it rained there was always thunder and lightning.
BBC weather have NZ temperatures much lower than what they really are. I never saw BBc world's weather for ChCh or NZ. but they probably would say it was going to be 3c for today

JohnGaul
NZTS

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Thu 12/08/2004 23:33

It's a bit like the 50s/60s movie picture scenario, everytime time it rained there was always thunder and lightning.

Quite a few more recent movies/TV shows have done that as well.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Fri 13/08/2004 07:06

Last nights sounding from Invercargill looks interesting with the freezing level near the surface, due to an isothermal layer within a low level easterly. That easterly indicates a small low over Southland.
There must have been snow down there with such a low freezing level.
Anyway, the freezing level should lift to about the 800m level today.

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Fri 13/08/2004 08:35

Very windy around 3am this morning, with some rain. Snow has setted on the hills to around 600m. Some of the higher roads have been affected.

Blue skies now

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Fri 13/08/2004 09:07

More snow this morning on the hills and in the higher suburbs. Lots of cars going to work covered in snow. Even heard reports that Invergiggle was getting flurries in the city this morning.

Had my lowest air temp this morning at my height. 1.2C

All the forecasts are pointing to a snowy weekend here (I bet Northland will be looking forward to coming down here for their 1st NPC match

) but still my workmates won't bring themselves to say it will snow

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Fri 13/08/2004 09:20

MetService's mountain forecast yesterday afternoon had heavy rain for Fiordland and the Southern Alps, with the predicted freezing level expected to be 800 metres in the south. Why didn't they mention snow in that forecast? There's been no snow warning for the Milford Road, but any such warning is probably irrelevant as I believe the road is closed due to continuing heavy snow and/or the avalanche danger.

The snowy blast must be confined to the far south (Dunedin southwards) as it's still sunny and mild in Chch.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Fri 13/08/2004 10:33

Invercargill has 5cm of snow this morning.

Rain turned to sleet and snow here early this morning before clearing at sunrise. A very light dusting of new snow to just above the town first thing but very thick snow above 1200m.

32mm of rain in Qtwn to 9am and 54mm from the Front over 36 hrs.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Fri 13/08/2004 11:46

More snow this morning on the hills and in the higher suburbs. Lots of cars going to work covered in snow.

Did any snow showers reach sea-level (or CBD level) in Dunedin? While it's a sunny day here in Chch (though with areas of cloud), it's certainly alot cooler than yesterday. Looking at Jeff's station, the 13C maximum was overnight, and it's now only 9C.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Fri 13/08/2004 17:07

Invercargill has 5cm of snow this morning.

Thats a big snowfall for Invercargill. Snow lying is quite rare in Invercargill. Much more common though up the road in Winton and Gore.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Fri 13/08/2004 17:52

The very cold air and system that brought the snow to the far south may have departed quite quickly, but a colder airmass has persisted over the central and lower South Island today. I see the 3PM obs have single figure temperatures from Canterbury southwards. Here in Chch, we've had a combination of northwest arch high cloud and scattered lower cloud, but still dry, even though the cloud has increased this afternoon. I don't think it has risen over about 9C today.

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Fri 13/08/2004 21:23

tich wrote:Did any snow showers reach sea-level (or CBD level) in Dunedin?

Not sure... may have been the odd one or two. Most of the activity was again in the middle of he night.

A couple of people gave me reports of extremely strong winds lashing their homes around 2-2.30am, with the rain feeling like it was hitting every window at the same time (they both lived in the same suburb out near the beach). I recorded my strongest gust about that time (only in the 30kphs) but I wasn't woken by any event.