Queens Birthday Weekend Low
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For today's weather discussion head to: New Zealand Weather & Climate
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For today's weather discussion head to: New Zealand Weather & Climate
Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Not sure which thread to post this in, ie. this one or June Weather so mods feel free to delete the one in the wrong spot:
Went for a little trek up at Lake Rotoiti today, arrived there around 10:30am and it was snowing ever so lightly, even though the air temp wasn't much under 5C. I was a wee bit surprised as on the drive up I could see how bare the surrounding mountains were, I think Sunday nights rain must have washed it all away. Got light snow falling the whole 2.5 hours of my walk and by the time I got back to the carpark around 1ish it had started snowing a bit heavier, still not enough to settle though. Temp at St Arnuad as I drove through around 1:30pm was 2-3C and snowing moderatly, not sure if any of it settled but judging by the rain radar St Arnuad was right at the northern limit of the snow showers.
I was surprised that snow was falling not only because of the mild temps but because of the timing, I guess the colder air had so much fun in the alps in wasn't in any hurry to head north!
I always thought you needed 2C or below for just snow to fall? though judging by the fact the air was quite dry at the time, dps around -3C I am guessing that evaporating snow cooled the air enough to let it fall while at the same time not melting the snow too much so it still fell as snow. Of course needless to say it was melting as soon as it hit the ground! I had to get to over 1000m asl before it started settling at those temps.
Went for a little trek up at Lake Rotoiti today, arrived there around 10:30am and it was snowing ever so lightly, even though the air temp wasn't much under 5C. I was a wee bit surprised as on the drive up I could see how bare the surrounding mountains were, I think Sunday nights rain must have washed it all away. Got light snow falling the whole 2.5 hours of my walk and by the time I got back to the carpark around 1ish it had started snowing a bit heavier, still not enough to settle though. Temp at St Arnuad as I drove through around 1:30pm was 2-3C and snowing moderatly, not sure if any of it settled but judging by the rain radar St Arnuad was right at the northern limit of the snow showers.
I was surprised that snow was falling not only because of the mild temps but because of the timing, I guess the colder air had so much fun in the alps in wasn't in any hurry to head north!
I always thought you needed 2C or below for just snow to fall? though judging by the fact the air was quite dry at the time, dps around -3C I am guessing that evaporating snow cooled the air enough to let it fall while at the same time not melting the snow too much so it still fell as snow. Of course needless to say it was melting as soon as it hit the ground! I had to get to over 1000m asl before it started settling at those temps.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
They just closed the Rimutaka Rd due to snow.... (trying to get home to Carterton from Upper Hutt just got a lot longer! (Metservice still saying snow won't settle on road....)
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Hi Tim S. Good question. I think this is probably the more appropriate thread, as we're still undergoing the effects of the weekend's low and its subsequent 'cold-snap', discussions and reports of which began a day or two ago. A separate thread re the 'cold-snap' might have been a possibility, but this thread is too well entrenched to separate the two, plus it'll be a very brief event by the looks.Tim S wrote:Not sure which thread to post this in, ie. this one or June Weather so mods feel free to delete the one in the wrong spot:
So at your suggestion I'll delete your duplicate post in the 'General June Weather' thread.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Rimutaka Rd has reopened... (still snowing at summit quite heavily) well worth staying in the traffic queue!!!
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
House struck by lightning, in Palmerston North, on Sunday night:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standar ... lightning/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standar ... lightning/
Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
A few photos from my trip to Lake Rotoiti,
it was hard trying to get a shot of snow on the ground, this was the best I could do: until I got to around 1200m asl where the ground was cool enough for the massive amounts of snowfall to settle (this is a frozen pond Nelson Lakes style ) As you can see the ducks didn't think much of this weather: This was the biggest stream I had to cross, although some of the path was a mini stream (sorry to use the 'm' word ) I feel a wee bit embarrased posting these shots after some of the other snow shots posted here and the photog forum but I wasn't really expecting any snow falling when I went up there today so I am still fairly happy to get a few decent shots and see some snow fall.
it was hard trying to get a shot of snow on the ground, this was the best I could do: until I got to around 1200m asl where the ground was cool enough for the massive amounts of snowfall to settle (this is a frozen pond Nelson Lakes style ) As you can see the ducks didn't think much of this weather: This was the biggest stream I had to cross, although some of the path was a mini stream (sorry to use the 'm' word ) I feel a wee bit embarrased posting these shots after some of the other snow shots posted here and the photog forum but I wasn't really expecting any snow falling when I went up there today so I am still fairly happy to get a few decent shots and see some snow fall.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Did you achieve this on a mini cycle or a mini bus or a mini(car) in a mini skirt?
Tim S wrote:
This was the biggest stream I had to cross, although some of the path was a mini stream (sorry to use the 'm' word )
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
SSW wind building here now, finally....has taken a while, even though the baro has been rising all day
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Nice photos there tim I used to spend quite a lot of time up nelson lakes way. The area east of of St Arnald on the road to to towards blenheim tends to get alot more snow than the lake itself as it seems to be in the path of the southerly a lot more one time i went up there there would be close to a foot of snow about 10km east of the lake and down by the lake there would be less the 3 inches.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Well what can i say all and every weather service in this country Failed to predict snow to 300m in Kaitoke bottom of the rimutakas. It has been snowing off and on all day with snow settlng about a 1inch built up so far.
This is a disgrace for an outfit that has a state of the art weather model machine. I had been asking the question off the weather watch team and metservice about snow around these parts for days and even late last night i got an email from the metservice saying if any snow at all would be 700m plus.
Speaking to some farmers in our area they were more than dissapointed as some didnt get the chance to move stock to lower altitudes before the snow hit. Only after I contacted these weather agencies again after the snow had started to fall this morning did they respond by puting a road snow warning out for the rimutakas. Also adding to there forecast snow to 500m but that was still 200m to high.
Myself and my brother have been watching this system for awhile and couldnt understand how they thourght it would bypass us.
Very bad for the weather experts this weekend.
This is a disgrace for an outfit that has a state of the art weather model machine. I had been asking the question off the weather watch team and metservice about snow around these parts for days and even late last night i got an email from the metservice saying if any snow at all would be 700m plus.
Speaking to some farmers in our area they were more than dissapointed as some didnt get the chance to move stock to lower altitudes before the snow hit. Only after I contacted these weather agencies again after the snow had started to fall this morning did they respond by puting a road snow warning out for the rimutakas. Also adding to there forecast snow to 500m but that was still 200m to high.
Myself and my brother have been watching this system for awhile and couldnt understand how they thourght it would bypass us.
Very bad for the weather experts this weekend.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Can you give us the winning lotto numbers? Or at least a ride in your time machine?Talbotm wrote:Well what can i say all and every weather service in this country Failed to predict snow to 300m in Kaitoke bottom of the rimutakas. It has been snowing off and on all day with snow settlng about a 1inch built up so far.
This is a disgrace for an outfit that has a state of the art weather model machine. I had been asking the question off the weather watch team and metservice about snow around these parts for days and even late last night i got an email from the metservice saying if any snow at all would be 700m plus.
Speaking to some farmers in our area they were more than dissapointed as some didnt get the chance to move stock to lower altitudes before the snow hit. Only after I contacted these weather agencies again after the snow had started to fall this morning did they respond by puting a road snow warning out for the rimutakas. Also adding to there forecast snow to 500m but that was still 200m to high.
Myself and my brother have been watching this system for awhile and couldnt understand how they thourght it would bypass us.
Very bad for the weather experts this weekend.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
I must admit I couldn't see the lower NI getting snow to 300m although I didn't follow it too closely. If you get a decent precipitating cloud sheet you can get mesoscale cooling under it that lowers the snow line locally that the GFS can't pick up on.This is a disgrace for an outfit that has a state of the art weather model machine.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Yesterdays Paraparam upper air sounding shows freezing level around the 900m mark which is indicative of wintry precip to about 700m.
Last edited by NZstorm on Wed 09/06/2010 07:12, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Talbotm, you will get local climate effects like that, where local knowledge will need to be applied
and farmers will know what snow level to expect from the forecasts, for their region
i would doubt that snow will last long enough to be a concern for the stock
I think you are just being an alarmist and a stirrer
and farmers will know what snow level to expect from the forecasts, for their region
i would doubt that snow will last long enough to be a concern for the stock
I think you are just being an alarmist and a stirrer
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Talbotm wrote:Well what can i say all and every weather service in this country Failed to predict snow to 300m in Kaitoke bottom of the rimutakas. It has been snowing off and on all day with snow settlng about a 1inch built up so far.
This is a disgrace for an outfit that has a state of the art weather model machine. I had been asking the question off the weather watch team and metservice about snow around these parts for days and even late last night i got an email from the metservice saying if any snow at all would be 700m plus.
Speaking to some farmers in our area they were more than dissapointed as some didnt get the chance to move stock to lower altitudes before the snow hit. Only after I contacted these weather agencies again after the snow had started to fall this morning did they respond by puting a road snow warning out for the rimutakas. Also adding to there forecast snow to 500m but that was still 200m to high.
Myself and my brother have been watching this system for awhile and couldnt understand how they thourght it would bypass us.
Very bad for the weather experts this weekend.
So glad I never wanted to become a forecaster - feedback like the above is a good justification for that decision.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Getting that email from Metservice is good service is it not, weather forecasts can be wrong even in 2010I had been asking the question off the weather watch team and metservice about snow around these parts for days and even late last night i got an email from the metservice saying if any snow at all would be 700m plus.
Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Thanks for the comments on the photos all.
Funny you mention that actually because as I was driving towards St Arnaud I could see there was a lot more shower activity to the east of the ranges. I contemplated taking a drive down Rainbow road to see what I could see but at that stage I wasn't expecting snow to be falling so was happy to go to Lake Rotoiti for the scenery. Will definitely have to check out Rainbow Road before long, although I am sure I will be regularly on that road when the ski field opens.snowstormwatcher wrote:Nice photos there tim I used to spend quite a lot of time up nelson lakes way. The area east of of St Arnald on the road to to towards blenheim tends to get alot more snow than the lake itself as it seems to be in the path of the southerly a lot more one time i went up there there would be close to a foot of snow about 10km east of the lake and down by the lake there would be less the 3 inches.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
On the radio today someone said there were flurries in Newtown Wellington,thats quite low,Mt victoria next door wouldve got some then.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Newlands, not Newtown.Michael wrote:On the radio today someone said there were flurries in Newtown Wellington,thats quite low,Mt victoria next door wouldve got some then.
Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
I know I have only been in NZ for a little over 6 weeks but I consider myself an expert on NZ weather, just like those who have less than 6 weeks equivalent experience as a meteorologist consider themselves as an expert at predicting the weather.
All jokes aside from what I have seen in the several years I have been following the weather over here, it is a lot harder to predict than Australian weather is. Which is no surprise when you consider how topographically varied NZ is. You can get completely different weather in one bay only 20km from another and then different weather again to a valley a few kms up the road from both. Personally I think the metservice are doing a damn good job considering the challenges they face,they cover a forecast area around the same size of Europe when you consider the maritime area they cover. A lot of this area is smack bang in the middle of the roaring forties, which is renowned as being among the wildest and unsettled regions there is, add to that a large continental mass to the NW (can't remember the name of it ) with an associated warm current down its east coast, the weather would be hard enough to predict without the NZ landmass to consider.
Of course we would love our forecasts to be 100% accurate but that is impossible and will always be impossible, the truth is the Metservice have an excellent forecast accuracy, its just most people don't remember the 99 days when they get it more or less correct, they only remember the 1 day they get it wrong.
All jokes aside from what I have seen in the several years I have been following the weather over here, it is a lot harder to predict than Australian weather is. Which is no surprise when you consider how topographically varied NZ is. You can get completely different weather in one bay only 20km from another and then different weather again to a valley a few kms up the road from both. Personally I think the metservice are doing a damn good job considering the challenges they face,they cover a forecast area around the same size of Europe when you consider the maritime area they cover. A lot of this area is smack bang in the middle of the roaring forties, which is renowned as being among the wildest and unsettled regions there is, add to that a large continental mass to the NW (can't remember the name of it ) with an associated warm current down its east coast, the weather would be hard enough to predict without the NZ landmass to consider.
Of course we would love our forecasts to be 100% accurate but that is impossible and will always be impossible, the truth is the Metservice have an excellent forecast accuracy, its just most people don't remember the 99 days when they get it more or less correct, they only remember the 1 day they get it wrong.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
Well said Tim. Many years ago, the arrival of a cold front at Invercargill Aero was sometimes only discovered in the dark hours by the sound of hail on walls. NZ is still a forecaster's nightmare. By the way, the May you just had in Nelson was not typical, being much cloudier than average as well as wetter.
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Re: Queens Birthday Weekend Low
I expected abit of critisism as not everyone would agree with my view. Can i just remind you about the metservice report about the magatepopo stream canyoning disaster that killed 6 young people. There forecast came in after jodie had left to head to the gorge with the pupils. jodie had seen the latest forecast at the time. Which was not accurate as we all found out. They had put a new forecast out only hours before the storm hit but the kids were in the canyon by then.
Also recently Porirua had a major thunderstorm and i heard about it happening from a mate out there before the metservice had even put a warning or even a watch for it. I understand the metservice have a hard job but they have been forecasting our weather for many decades now which should make there job easier. I just seem to have noticed there forecasts lately have been more wrong than right.
Also recently Porirua had a major thunderstorm and i heard about it happening from a mate out there before the metservice had even put a warning or even a watch for it. I understand the metservice have a hard job but they have been forecasting our weather for many decades now which should make there job easier. I just seem to have noticed there forecasts lately have been more wrong than right.