Severe Cold Outbreak over NZ 18th-21st

ScottyD · Unread post by **ScottyD** » Mon 19/09/2005 19:16

has the next front come through christchurch yet?

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Mon 19/09/2005 19:39

I dunno if next front has gone through yet but certainly some beafier showers out there now had hail before almost size of peas.
bitterly cold out there now 2C outside snow still lying on ground many areas thick too.
Cheers
JASON.

spike_01 · Unread post by **spike_01** » Mon 19/09/2005 19:55

Police email...

Location of incident: Normanby,Hawera,Wanganui,Marton areas and particularly roads South of Waiouru

Incident Type: Hail and sleet in central Nth Island Areas

Normanby,Hawera,Wanganui,Marton areas and particularly roads South of Waiouru experiencing hail storms, sleet and ice on the roads. It would be advisable for people to restrict their travels in these areas tonight. Those who are travelling to be careful and drive to what the conditions dictate. Roads are not closed as yet but this may change later, dependant on the conditions.

Weathermad · Unread post by **Weathermad** » Mon 19/09/2005 20:01

Christchurch was the place to be today I reckon... I work as a weatherguy for a local radio station, and I was fortunate to have a link back to the studio in a station vehicle..

The snow started falling early this morning and I went out to give ' snow reports ' back to the station..

At 8am, I clawed my way up Dyers Pass Road and Hackthorne Road and it was a pretty slippery proposition, with one taxi driver yelling out at me ' Why didnt you tell me, it was this heavy up here? '....Oh the responsibility!!

By 8.30, I was the last vehicle down before the roads were closed and it was pretty hair raising stuff coming down the hill...It took me 30 minutes to travel one kilometre!

I slowly ventured out to a number of suburbs and to the west of the city and the heaviest snow seemed to be on the Port Hills.. Cashmere, Spreydon and HoonHay but also West Melton and Darfield had their fair share...

The most bizarre part of the day was when I was doing a live report while driving, ( it's ok I have a handsfree set!!) when a brilliant flash of lightning and a bolt of thunder accompanied with hail, made my report sound rather more urgent!!

A number of stations wanted reports and it shows in a situation like this that there is demand from the public for such a service...

By midday the snow began to ease and I was asked to do an on air show about the weather, as the bosses wanted to extend the coverage and remain local...Tony T came onto the airwaves and acknowledgments went to this man for the work he had put into predicting this event ( a gutsy effort ) and with the current situation with his family, I really appreciated Tony coming on.

We discussed the situation and the warning given but his knowledge of the region and his ability to 'read' the weather is outstanding! Many callers were on the air discussing todays events and previous 'big snow' events...The passion for the weather in this city and province is truly amazing and if more significant weather occurs, the station will remain live and local....which is what the industry should be about!!!

A day I will not forget in a hurry and will there be more tonight?...Hope so!

Weathermad

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Mon 19/09/2005 20:10

Weathermad wrote:Christchurch was the place to be today I reckon... I work as a weatherguy for a local radio station, and I was fortunate to have a link back to the studio in a station vehicle..

The snow started falling early this morning and I went out to give ' snow reports ' back to the station..

At 8am, I clawed my way up Dyers Pass Road and Hackthorne Road and it was a pretty slippery proposition, with one taxi driver yelling out at me ' Why didnt you tell me, it was this heavy up here? '....Oh the responsibility!!

By 8.30, I was the last vehicle down before the roads were closed and it was pretty hair raising stuff coming down the hill...It took me 30 minutes to travel one kilometre!

I slowly ventured out to a number of suburbs and to the west of the city and the heaviest snow seemed to be on the Port Hills.. Cashmere, Spreydon and HoonHay but also West Melton and Darfield had their fair share...

The most bizarre part of the day was when I was doing a live report while driving, ( it's ok I have a handsfree set!!) when a brilliant flash of lightning and a bolt of thunder accompanied with hail, made my report sound rather more urgent!!

A number of stations wanted reports and it shows in a situation like this that there is demand from the public for such a service...

By midday the snow began to ease and I was asked to do an on air show about the weather, as the bosses wanted to extend the coverage and remain local...Tony T came onto the airwaves and acknowledgments went to this man for the work he had put into predicting this event ( a gutsy effort ) and with the current situation with his family, I really appreciated Tony coming on.

We discussed the situation and the warning given but his knowledge of the region and his ability to 'read' the weather is outstanding! Many callers were on the air discussing todays events and previous 'big snow' events...The passion for the weather in this city and province is truly amazing and if more significant weather occurs, the station will remain live and local....which is what the industry should be about!!!

A day I will not forget in a hurry and will there be more tonight?...Hope so!

Weathermad

Yes, it was all your fault.

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Mon 19/09/2005 20:42

Went for a drive today down to Birdlings Flat, a beach exposed to the south, with the anemometer in hand.
Average speed recorded was 46kmph, Top speed 80kmph. Winds are ment to peak later tonight.

Couple of images from Birdlings flat.

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Mon 19/09/2005 20:46

Foggy Hamilton wrote:Incredible stuff Cantabs, never say it's not possible! *cough* tony *cough*

Yes, I made a special point of watching the Tv weather this evening to see what the reading was. If the 5 deg is confirmed then it should stand as a new record for the coldest September day on record in Chch (records go back to 1864).

So, well done Foggy and well done GFS, to correctly forecast an event that has never occurred before is quite some acheivement. Your skill exceeds my skepticism!

Thanks to Richard, Weathermad, for his efforts on local radio today, doing a good job of keeping people interested and excited about the weather, not just grumpy, as its easy for people to be in this situation.

In the end there wasnt a lot of snow out at Amberley, not enough for my younger son to make a snow man, so he was very disappointed, but my elder son got to make a large snow man and pelt his father with many snowballs outside the hospital, so he is happy.

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Mon 19/09/2005 21:01

I also took a small clip of the surf at the beach which going by what a local said was quite rough, even in a southerly.

(File is under 1mb, 21 seconds long)

joecam · Unread post by **joecam** » Mon 19/09/2005 21:31

Linesman Working Banks Peninsula on Long Bay Road

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Mon 19/09/2005 22:17

Snow should already to be falling to quite low levels in the southern and central North Island, with 6pm obs showing temps of 4C at Kelburn, 5C in Taupo, and 6C in Hamilton - all 3 stations having recent precipitation.

Heard reports (from Trademe forum) of snow this evening in Dannevirke and Kimbolton. All highways around Ruapehu are now closed.

tgsnoopy · Unread post by **tgsnoopy** » Mon 19/09/2005 22:31

Well, after receiving reports of sleet on state highway 36 (Tauranga to Rotorua direct road, 450m elevation) this afternoon I took a gamble and went up to the top of the Kaimai ranges (500m on SH29). It was indeed getting occasional snow so I returned to the workshop and uplifted the appropriate keys and went right up to the radio site at the real summit (650m). Even up there it wasn't settling as ground temperatures & wind speed were too high. Hopefully in the morning things will be different. I'm planning an early excursion.

Fingers crossed I'll get some photo's tomorrow morning of snow on the Kaimai ranges.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Mon 19/09/2005 22:47

TonyT wrote:
Foggy Hamilton wrote:Incredible stuff Cantabs, never say it's not possible! *cough* tony *cough*
Yes, I made a special point of watching the Tv weather this evening to see what the reading was. If the 5 deg is confirmed then it should stand as a new record for the coldest September day on record in Chch (records go back to 1864).

So, well done Foggy and well done GFS, to correctly forecast an event that has never occurred before is quite some acheivement. Your skill exceeds my skepticism!

Thanks to Richard, Weathermad, for his efforts on local radio today, doing a good job of keeping people interested and excited about the weather, not just grumpy, as its easy for people to be in this situation.

In the end there wasnt a lot of snow out at Amberley, not enough for my younger son to make a snow man, so he was very disappointed, but my elder son got to make a large snow man and pelt his father with many snowballs outside the hospital, so he is happy.

Yes Foggy did well

Tony, i must congratulate you and Paul Gorman for the report in Saturday's PRESS

Well done.
I was a bit sceptical about the event only producing cold winds and nothing much else. I had 1 alert for Friday and a 1 alert for today for thunderstorms. Obviously things did develop once the cold air moved over warmer seas. I thought the movement of the low may of been too quick for anything to happen

JohnGaul
NZTS

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Mon 19/09/2005 22:57

Congrats to Tony and Blue Skies - when I first saw that extreme outlook late last week, I though it was a worse case scenario, but in the end their predictions were better than MetService's.

BTW that thunderclap was weird - when I first heard I wondered what it was (maybe an explosion or collapsing building); I wasn't expecting thunder during heavy snow with low cloud.

Hailing as I write this post.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Mon 19/09/2005 23:14

tich wrote:BTW that thunderclap was weird - when I first heard I wondered what it was (maybe an explosion or collapsing building); I wasn't expecting thunder during heavy snow with low cloud.

Interesting you say that Ben. I was washing dishes at the hospital where I work, and I just happened to look out the window and saw a blue/purple flash. I thought maybe the weight of the snow which had just stopped at the time was from a power transformer that may of succumbed to the weight of the snow.. but 3 seconds later there was this rumbling sound that sounded like thunder, which wouldn't of happened if it was a power transformer succumbing to the snow

It came onto hail for about 10 minutes and that was it.
I heard another rumble of thunder a bit further north about 15 minutes later but nothing more dso happened weather wize.
By the way I am picking uo some distant to close sfereics now as i switch off to go to bed. Don't know where they are, I think Steven Graham's lightning detector has some snow/hail stuck to it???

Hail and snow falling at the moment (with distant sfericals - wierd)

JohnGaul
NZTS

Fujita Phil · Unread post by **Fujita Phil** » Tue 20/09/2005 00:04

Snowing here again

Weathermad · Unread post by **Weathermad** » Tue 20/09/2005 05:34

The night in Christchurch contained a few hail,sleet and snow showers but not to the degree of yesterdays event...

At midnight the temp had dropped to one degree with snow at the Airport and other parts of the city...In Ilam it is fairly clear at the moment but I see the eastern parts of the city and the Peninsula are still copping a few showers(rain,hail,sleet and snow).

The wind picked up to gale force at times in the city too...Yesterday the official high at the Airport was 4 degrees apparently and 5 in the city..

Will there be much more?..A high of 7 expected and tonight frosty with a low of minus 3!!!!

Weathermad

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Tue 20/09/2005 06:55

Phil said

Snowing here again

In Mosgiel -Wintry showers over night have dusted the area white again.

Fly back to Auckland this morning but the weather looks only slightly warmer up there.

Manukau heads obs · Tue 20/09/2005 07:04

Yes, Well done Tony and Foggy Hamilton!!

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Tue 20/09/2005 07:11

Confirming SNOW on Mount Pirongia!! (957m) Only light in blotches, but it's there above about 800m! And it's on the west side of the NI so this really is special.

4c and short lived heavy showers, it's not often at all you see that here!

I would go climb it today, but I just can't due to exams.

I'm noticing tgsnoopy isn't posting, so I guess he is hopefully stuck on the Desert Road taking wicked pictures he is known for!

Super Spring you betcha!, Super convection from late-August, high high temps, heavy heavy rain and tornadoes and gales, cold cold temps now!
Don't you just LOVE it??

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Tue 20/09/2005 08:11

Foggy Hamilton wrote:Super Spring you betcha!, Super convection from late-August, high high temps, heavy heavy rain and tornadoes and gales, cold cold temps now!
Don't you just LOVE it??

Yes.

ricky · Unread post by **ricky** » Tue 20/09/2005 08:58

Should be a great morning to be flying over the country spwill!
temperature dropped to 5C at times during the night here

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Tue 20/09/2005 09:24

The icy SW with Rain and hail now has risen to Gale Force again

On Newstalk ZB they look as though they are going to soon talk about the weather whether you agree or not about it

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Tue 20/09/2005 09:43

Michael wrote:The icy SW with Rain and hail now has risen to Gale Force again

On Newstalk ZB they look as though they are going to soon talk about the weather whether you agree or not about it

At least it'll be a nice change from "All Labour voters are bludgers!", and "Doctor Brash will solve all our problems for us!"...I'd much rather listen to weather talk.

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Tue 20/09/2005 12:25

TonyT wrote: So, well done Foggy and well done GFS, to correctly forecast an event that has never occurred before is quite some acheivement. Your skill exceeds my skepticism!

Cheers guys, you wont believe how much I was religously watching the NCEP ensemble plots 10 days out! Could see it coming, GFS and ECMWF model werent varying much in each run, which meant a strong probablity to the event.

I was going to mention it on the Monday, but didn't want to as I would be subject to big skeptism from everyone. Not just Gary!

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Tue 20/09/2005 12:45

Still very wintry out on Banks Peninsula - sleet showers at low levels, and snowing above about 200m on Hilltop. Hills around Akaroa are thickly coated above about 300m.

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Severe Cold Outbreak over NZ 18th-21st

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Severe Cold Outbreak over NZ 18th-21st