NZ Weather Forum

^ Was stopped at traffic lights around 11am and felt the car rock suddenly as a gust hit it - even looked accusingly at the car behind me for a moment!
Dust and leaves flying, and power off for a short time ~15-20 minutes?

26.5°C at present, sunny with plenty of cloud, looks like it may rain soon. Trees and shrubs tossing, strong NNW breeze.

darcyplumb wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 12:00 Getting smashed by the NW winds here in Ashburton. Power on and off, windows flexing on the house. Strongest I’ve witnessed for a couple of years now.

Oh no only light to moderate so far here. Ive just tied back the sunflowers so they should stay upright.

Getting stronger now. The gusts are really packing a punch.

Windy too here in Geraldine this morning, northerly winds, but now raining with some overthrow rain from the west.

Rain hitting north- and west-facing windows here.

Pretty strong winds in Amberley, had to hold on to my lunch!

A great smell of 'ozone' filtering through the closed windows

Orion wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 13:03 A great smell of 'ozone' filtering through the closed windows

Describe how that smells please

Big gusts from the north here now, getting dark around the hills

Richard wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 13:14

Orion wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 13:03 A great smell of 'ozone' filtering through the closed windows

Describe how that smells please

Big gusts from the north here now, getting dark around the hills

Petrichor, if you like:

Petrichor is the term coined by Australian scientists in 1964 to describe the unique, earthy smell associated with rain. It is caused by the water from the rain, along with certain compounds like ozone, geosmin, and plant oils.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor ... mythology.

Temperature falling away: now 17.6°C.
Wind eased a little with the rain.

I know what you mean now Orion, you get that smell if it hasn't rained for sometime, remember if being a bacteria that the raindrops hitting the ground release.

Sunny here still but the feel of raindrops hitting the face as I'm working

The wind has torn a sign on the Chch southern motorway (transport for Chch twitter) and is fanning a fire above Cass Bay (Stuff):

https://twitter.com/TransportChCh/statu ... 33664?s=20

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/123991 ... rong-winds

Lots of trees and large branches down in Ashburton. Wind currently not as strong as earlier and moderate rain falling.

The polar streamer is commencing to sever from the upper level mothership over Antarctica. The cut off low process is now underway SE of the Stewart Island. MetService Ob on the Island is showing 973 hPa and falling, 3 hPa below all model forecasts at this stage.

Similar in Amberley now, lighter winds and steady rain.

Edit 4:25pm - no, back to strong winds

What determines,in a nw'er, whether or not rain bounces off the hills and when it does why do chc hardly ever get it? Everywhere north and south of here does, its like a slot of no weather where chc is.

Queenstown, Wanaka, and Pukaki had highs of only around 11C. For Wanaka that is 13C below normal. Overcast with thundery precip along those alps, so no sun.

Todays 5pm lightning detection looks like July. Nothing over Aussie.

Brief rain in Chch a short while ago. Raindrops felt cold, even though it was still about 20C.

dogmelon wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 16:35 What determines,in a nw'er, whether or not rain bounces off the hills and when it does why do chc hardly ever get it? Everywhere north and south of here does, its like a slot of no weather where chc is.

CHCH and BP are further away from the main divide, mostly by that time spill over rain reaches there its pretty much lost all its moisture. Here for example, 10k's west can be double the amount of rainfall during weather patterns such these while to the east on the coast its rare to get much more than a few mil.

Looks ripe for thunderstorms overnight Auckland
I home just in time

The 500mb jet 60 to 70 knts today. I thought the NW winds would be strong but perhaps not that strong.

Thinking i might of ate some dust with my lunch at 1pm

Seen on FB damage to property in parts of Canterbury...Amberly

NZstorm wrote: ↑Tue 19/01/2021 06:50 500mb chart for midnight tonight. Very good cold pool for January! Pity it will be a weak event thunderwise although some spillover rumbles may occur near the lakes.

Wanaka's high yesterday was 8C below normal. Met Service have Wanaka's high 9C below normal today and 7C below normal tomorrow.

Wanaka afternoon maximum was 11C, 13C below January average. Currently 8C there with showery rain. Around 100mm for January so far.

Jetstream dipping nicely above the NI ahead of that frontal boundary in the Tasman. Some potential for a rumble early tomorrow morning.

I'm in Franz for the night with the family after a wonderful mainly sunny afternoon in Haast

We just had an awesome brief hail shower and some tremendous close lightning with staggeringly loud thunder. Could be a fun night!