Cold easterly airflow 7th - 12th Aug

[Awhituobs]

you can see that extra moisture band for north Canterbury that you are getting Richard on the rain radar
looks like its been fed a bit from moisture enjected from further north?

[Richard]

Yes its quite interesting how its being feed in from the SE. Not a breath of wind at the moment

[tich]

Banks Peninsula snow/rainshadow sheltering Chch this morning, so just cloudy. Could see a slight dusting of snow on Sugarloaf.

[Lawrence]

Had a bit of sleet and snow during the night here,but was quickly dissolved by the rain.

[Tracy Herbert]

Quite a pleasant day in Rakaia, no wind, no rain just overcast and now blue sky appearing from the south. Not chilly cold outside either.

[TonyT]

A number of soft hail showers here this morning.

[Lawrence]

Looking a bit dark to the south of here at the moment. Prominent virga

[Lawrence]

A number of soft hail showers here this morning.

One just came through now, fairly moderate enough to turn the lawn white in patches, but quickly through.

[mikestormchaser]

One thing in my opinion with these cold set ups is they arnt the tru wintry blasts we normally see without the convective clouds we would have, had the upper temperature aloft be alot colder. 500mb temp sitting on a mild -26 which in my mind is pretty warm for a winter cold outbreak.the CBs would lower the freezing level. These cold set ups are more at the surface. Inland places like castle hill should be getting a hammering with alot of the moisture pointing that way today.

[Bradley]

One thing in my opinion with these cold set ups is they arnt the tru wintry blasts we normally see without the convective clouds we would have, had the upper temperature aloft be alot colder. 500mb temp sitting on a mild -26 which in my mind is pretty warm for a winter cold outbreak.the CBs would lower the freezing level. These cold set ups are more at the surface. Inland places like castle hill should be getting a hammering with alot of the moisture pointing that way today.

0.5cm of snow recorded at 320m asl in Mid-Canterbury for this event, I wonder if those 500mb temps of around -26 was the cause of snow amounts being massively lower then forecast around that 300m asl level? Even with 850hpa temps of -7C and -8C around? Surely these forecasters who do this for a job would have picked that up though in their forecast? Something isn't adding up...

[darcyplumb]

Sleety shower moving through here right now.

[Orion]

Sleety shower moving through here right now.

Clouds visible to the east at the moment have that yellowish cast to them that means 'snow'.
Temp. currently 4.9°, has fallen a little over the past hour or so.

[Dean.]

One thing in my opinion with these cold set ups is they arnt the tru wintry blasts we normally see without the convective clouds we would have, had the upper temperature aloft be alot colder. 500mb temp sitting on a mild -26 which in my mind is pretty warm for a winter cold outbreak.the CBs would lower the freezing level. These cold set ups are more at the surface. Inland places like castle hill should be getting a hammering with alot of the moisture pointing that way today.

0.5cm of snow recorded at 320m asl in Mid-Canterbury for this event, I wonder if those 500mb temps of around -26 was the cause of snow amounts being massively lower then forecast around that 300m asl level? Even with 850hpa temps of -7C and -8C around? Surely these forecasters who do this for a job would have picked that up though in their forecast? Something isn't adding up...

Methven at 320 metres recorded 5cm here in Mid Canterbury

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

[Lawrence]

Sleety shower moving through here right now.

Seeing them showers clearly on the radar at the moment. We are getting a few threatening looking showers here but they seem to be weakened as they are skirting around the edge of Banks Peninsular. I'm sort of sitting just off to side the shadow.

[darcyplumb]

Sleety shower moving through here right now.

Clouds visible to the east at the moment have that yellowish cast to them that means 'snow'.
Temp. currently 4.9°, has fallen a little over the past hour or so.

The shower activity seems to be increasing offshore. We’ve been mostly dry all day. Just doing school pick up and another sleety shower falling, a lot heavier than the first.

[Richard]

We havent had a lot of rain, 30mm in the last two days, the water table starts to drop a little next thing its back to how its been for weeks on end. At least the natives will handle sitting in water.

driveway.JPG

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Hail here in the street in Geraldine around 1:40pm, sorry I mean 1pm.

[mikestormchaser]

One thing in my opinion with these cold set ups is they arnt the tru wintry blasts we normally see without the convective clouds we would have, had the upper temperature aloft be alot colder. 500mb temp sitting on a mild -26 which in my mind is pretty warm for a winter cold outbreak.the CBs would lower the freezing level. These cold set ups are more at the surface. Inland places like castle hill should be getting a hammering with alot of the moisture pointing that way today.

0.5cm of snow recorded at 320m asl in Mid-Canterbury for this event, I wonder if those 500mb temps of around -26 was the cause of snow amounts being massively lower then forecast around that 300m asl level? Even with 850hpa temps of -7C and -8C around? Surely these forecasters who do this for a job would have picked that up though in their forecast? Something isn't adding up...

Yes I'm just picking out some points, basic stuff really and it's only my opinion. There was no real cold upper troughing with the cold event. So nothing to enhance anything.
I personally like a 700mb temp of -18 or colder for any chance sea level snow for coastal south island. Today was -16 at best. The THK levels way to warm. I'm no expert on snow systems aside generally like to concentrate on thunderstorms. Just my thoughts anyways

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Another hail photo from today.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Here's another photo of the hail shower that moved across here just before 1pm today taken from the backroom window.

[darcyplumb]

Some interesting conditions here this morning that I thought were worth a mention. I’ve been awake since 5am, light snow accumulations on the ground again. There’s been snow and sleet falling since I got up which stopped 15 minutes ago. There has been a steady accumulation of ice on the vehicles and house with the sleet falling which isn’t something that happens here often. Temp currently 0.9 degrees with the radar showing more showers coming.

[Thunder081]

Some pictures from inland Canterbury on Monday morning at 300 - 500m asl

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[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

After a good frost, and a red sunrise and sunset, a blue dome day eventuated. A light but cold southerly wind. Maximum temperature was 8.8C.

[darcyplumb]

A number of school bus services cancelled for Methven schools today due to what the locals are calling ‘very unexpected snowfall’ overnight.

[mikestormchaser]

A number of school bus services cancelled for Methven schools today due to what the locals are calling ‘very unexpected snowfall’ overnight.

Not surprised to hear the snowfall there. The THK levels overnight and today are cold, Colder than they were on Monday from what I saw on the GFS last night. Big frosts coming tonight and over the weekend, Over eastern areas and severe inland.

Need to be taking care on the roads for next few mornings.