Drizzly in Chch this morning, but...

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 11/01/2004 18:31

I thought that e Southern Alps may of been lit up with electical activity on Thurday night but I saw nothing

The Met Strike Web picked up a lot of lightning over the West coast/ Alps late last week. And I noticed CH airport reporting lightning on its hourly obs late thursday.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 11/01/2004 23:06

NZstorm wrote:
The Met Strike Web picked up a lot of lightning over the West coast/ Alps late last week. And I noticed CH airport reporting lightning on its hourly obs late thursday.

Yes, I noticed that too.
A friend of mine who was in Nelson at the time reported lots of sferics some of them quite long in duration. ...but he never encountered any thunder activity.
I suspect, although I could and well may be wrong, alot of it was in the cloud, 'sheet' lightning judging by the MSW, out to sea.
It's a shame we haven't got anyone on this forum in Greymouth/Westport to varify!

JohnGaul
NZTS

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Mon 12/01/2004 02:13

Boring boring boring, I guess highs like this one have stuck around in the past for long times but since I've taken and interest in the weather and I've now been looking at charts etc it seems like it's been ages, I note it is moving over the north of the country though with a small low going to form of the east coast of the south Island just before another high comes in.....oh the pain. At least I think what I've written is right, near enough?

Micheal, surely these SW winds in Auckland have died down a bit lately, has it been good recently in terms of sun and calm days?

Well I've got my camera at last, I actually got it about a week ago just before I went to the sounds, it looks cool! I've got my filters and extra add ons etc so I should be set, I now need a larger memory card and extra battery might be good to, I'll see if I can put up an image tomorrow (today, go to bed Aaron!)

of something relitivly interesting.

Cheers
Aaron Wilkinson

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Mon 12/01/2004 07:00

I suspect, although I could and well may be wrong, alot of it was in the cloud, 'sheet' lightning judging by the MSW, out to sea.

Met Strike web only picks up earthed strikes (land or sea strikes). But Yes there can be alot of intracloud lightning that doesn't get detected.

Micheal, surely these SW winds in Auckland have died down a bit lately, has it been good recently in terms of sun and calm days?

If we're to apply Michaels reporting criteria to Christchurch, every time the NE'ester came in....it would be "the gales are back". Anyway, the southwester is a classic spring wind for Auckland. From now on it is less common and tends to be replaced by a NE breeze. However, a seabreeze for Manukau is from the SW. The SW'ester we had in Auckland on Saturday had alot of sea breeze component in it.

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Mon 12/01/2004 16:14

Hi

The day is not very interesting and nothing photogenic to photograph, tomorrow!

Yes our gales would be from the NE for the Chch version but they're never really gales, the NE is bad when it comes in as a sea fog that clouds everything up and it's pea soupy, it's a colder wind due to the sea which can cool things down, it's anoying sometimes. In Auckland would you not get convergence from seebreezes hitting each other as the strip of land which Auckland has, has no mountain range or anything and is thin. Do clouds often come about because of this convergence if it is so?

I had a look at the metstrike web map and it showed a line of lightning strikes from what looked like Kaikora to Banks peninsula, does anyone know when that happened?

Could this radar pic from last night be when it happened, if so, why didn't I see it, did anyone else? if it happened then of course.

radar at 22:00 (10:00pm) last night, I think. 11 January

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Mon 12/01/2004 16:31

The SouthWesterly at this time of the year brings generally good weather to Auckland . The strong sun and warmer environment easily burn off any low cloud that comes with it . A fresh SW wind keeps out the East Coast sea breeze allowing Eastern suburbs and Central Auckland to heat up like today.

Dean. · Unread post by **Dean.** » Mon 12/01/2004 17:42

Blue skies and sunshine again this afternoon,but only 21 degrees.
No sign of any drizzle patches around these parts but then again the cloud might spread inland again tonight.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Mon 12/01/2004 18:07

Do clouds often come about because of this convergence

There can be varying amounts of cloud (cumulus/stratocumulus) on some days from sea breeze convergence. On days when the line is active it develops as a very dark based line of cloud and can produce precipitation. Its exact position tends to be a bit different each day.
But I have noticed the sea breeze convergence zone only a few times this summer.

I had a look at the metstrike web map and it showed a line of lightning strikes from what looked like Kaikora to Banks peninsula, does anyone know when that happened?

Friday morning Aaron.