Low pressure system crossing North Island on Monday

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03Stormchaser
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Unread post by 03Stormchaser »

Watched Breakfast this morning, had a couple of people on there who witnessed the tornado, definitly was going by there accounts of it.

Also to note they called it a 'mini' tornado! :roll:
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Unread post by TonyT »

03 Stormchaser wrote:Also to note they called it a 'mini' tornado! :roll:
Something we would never do eh, we would call it a landspout! :roll:
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Unread post by spike_01 »

TV 1 just reporting a Tornado in Auckland somewhere... I just caught the end of the Item, so not sure on the details... 8)
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Unread post by ricky »

Wow thanks for that NZstorm! It was hard to see much in the dark except for the debris across the roads.. I saw many shredded looking trees between Pasadena Int and the park and wondered what damage was behind them! I didnt go too far back into Pt chev but there was a bit of a trail a few blocks in..
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

not a land spout, as it only briefly went across a few esturies....
the waitekeres are good at spawning tornadoes in a WNWer like that...

nzstorm, you are relatively quick to sway towards other occurences in NZ (if you have not seen them first hand) that it would be unlikely to be a tornado, and be something else (re TonyT's remark), he he, but you have seen this one first hand so you can be the judge :) :) :? :P
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Unread post by spwill »

Thanks Ricki for that report.


I'm in Christchurch. :x
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Unread post by ricky »

I was just talking to the friend that woke me who lives opposite Eden Park.. He was woken by heavy rain and hail then the house began to shake with a loud roar, then he described an almost instant dead calm and quiet, wandered outside and wondered what had happened.. clear sky no wind. His house was right on the edge of the scattered bins and damaged trees, which almost gave the impression of two tracks of damage through there..
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Cool cool cool!! :D

I noticed the 1am sat pic did look very squally indeed with convection starting early here in the Waikato from 5pm yesterday. Cool to see you jafa's getting rippie in half again! ;)

Some heavy showers overnight, no thunder this time and showers weren't squally which was a welcome change.

Brian, Sep 16 tornado was 100m away from here ;)
P.s check ur email soon Brian and reply with what you think :)
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

P.s check ur email soon Brian and reply with what you think
Done that, sounds good to me :)

There was a surpisinly heavy and dense shower late yesterday afternoon in Waiuku...
temperature went from 14.8oc to 11.2oC, behind that front,,,so a good temperature change
we got 6mm here

yes, the sat image showed very cold tops for that front
would have looked very impressive if it was day time
wandered outside and wondered what had happened.. clear sky no wind
the rain radar showed that the tornado occured at the extreme northern end of the CB cell (going by the area of heavy rain)
hence the rapid clearence![/quote]
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Unread post by ricky »

Just went for a look down at the park, some very large trees uprooted there, also around the houses across the motorway a few collapsed carports, bent flues, trees down etc, so yes on and off quite strong alright..

Although there wasn't much change in windspeed here exactly 1km away, there was a very sudden and brief shift backing about 45degrees at the time of passing, also saw the same but longer shifts during later squalls
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Unread post by NZstorm »

From my observation the tornado trail was aprox 4km long, starting in Pt Chev, going through Western Springs and Kingsland and ending in Mt Eden, as Ricky has stated.

I spoke to a woman in Western Springs who lost half of their roof. She said they woke to heavy rain, then heard the wind building, the house started shaking, and then a loud bang. Immediately after that an eerie silence with no wind or rain. The fire Service arrived within about 7 minutes and put covers on the roof. The roof landed in their back garden and in the neighbours property.

I stopped to look at a whole lot of scaffolding down on a two story building site near Eden Park. One of the people on site said the scaffolding was fine in 120k/h winds on Saturday!

I assessment iof this tornado is F1 at a pinch. I don't think it was as strong as the Hamilton tornado which was a strong F1.
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Unread post by Thunder »

Rahh!! Exciting stuff! If we keep going at this rate we'll have had a more eventfull tornado season than the states! Well, maybe not..........they didn't have the best season however just gone.

Some interesting Cu outside at the moment here in Chch but it's in a capped (more like an inversion) environment so won't get any storms out of it, nice to look at though! Our convective opertunities seem to be in inland areas on Thursday and then the following Sunday. The following Sunday seems to show more potential but it is a wee way out so that counts against us. This Thursday is a possibility but I think it'll be too cloudy for anything to happen unless it becomes fine in inland areas during the afternoon or something.

Cheers
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Unread post by NZstorm »

There was a damaging tornado in this area 10years ago. August 1995. Started in Pt Chev and went through MT Albert. It was an F1.

On a southern hemisphere cb, tornadoes develop on the north to northwest side of the storm. Opposite to northern hemisphere. That fits with your theory Brian.
the rain radar showed that the tornado occured at the extreme northern end of the CB cell (going by the area of heavy rain)
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Cb's and thunderstorms are developing this morning in the great Waikato Basin!! Look south Aucklanders... boy they are towering massively!
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Unread post by TonyT »

NZstorm wrote:TOn a southern hemisphere cb, tornadoes develop on the north to northwest side of the storm. Opposite to northern hemisphere. That fits with your theory Brian.
Is that due to the direction of rotation of a mesocyclone, or some other reason? Given how narrow the band of damage has been reported to be, do you think this was a torndao from a mesocyclone, or the much discussed landspout (aka mini tornado)?
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Unread post by NZstorm »

Bit cloudy here Foggy to see into the Waikato. But we have had a wet morning here with cb showers. Current dewpoint 15C, temp 16C.
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Unread post by TonyT »

Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Rahh!! Exciting stuff! If we keep going at this rate we'll have had a more eventfull tornado season than the states! Well, maybe not..........they didn't have the best season however just gone.
Cheers
This forum is playing no small part in helping keep track of all these events and helping to try to understand what causes them. As has been said before, doubtless there are many more torndaoes in NZ every year than we used to realise, but with all the keen observers out there now with cameras, the use of radar, satpix, and the expertise of people like NZstorm, we are noticing more and more of them.

I expect RWood will agree, its not that many years ago that the only way we got to hear about severe weather events like these was the monthly climate digest which used to arrive by mail from the old NZ Meteorological Service about 2 months after the end of the month, and there would be tanterlising tidbits about strong winds here or "what appears to be a small tornado" there, and all you could do was go down to the public library and try to find info from back issues of the regional newspapers. Its all very different now, and well done to all the forum users for actually taking the time to go out and report on what has happened.

Does anyone actually keep a record of all these events reported here? Are there any NIWA lurkers out there noting it all down somewhere?
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Unread post by NZstorm »

The 'landspout' term was coined by some storm chasers in the US to differentiate a mesocyclonic tornado from a non-mesocyclonic tornado.
I'm not sure I like the term much. The biggest problem I have with it is identification. Could be impossible in many instances to judge exactly how a tornado has formed.
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

Trevor McGavin does compile info for the Met Society newsletter, and he used to (maybe still does) do it for the met service, and it was ona web site called notable extreme weather events, or something like that
i know he does use this forum (i think) for info
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Unread post by tich »

Trevor McGavin does compile info for the Met Society newsletter, and he used to (maybe still does) do it for the met service, and it was ona web site called notable extreme weather events, or something like that
i know he does use this forum (i think) for info
I provide him with info on weather events I've heard about (alot from TV1 Weather and news) during each month, and I have referred him to this forum as a good source of extra info.

Still cloudy and cold in Chch; a few light showers this morning, but a few sunny breaks as well.
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Unread post by Willoughby »

NZstorm wrote:Bit cloudy here Foggy to see into the Waikato. But we have had a wet morning here with cb showers. Current dewpoint 15C, temp 16C.
We've had heavy rolling thunderstorm which lasted 15 minutes (continuous sounding thunder) which brought heavy hail.
Heavy thunderstorm now about the Matamata township.

The scattering of Cb's and hailstorms today are and look SUPERB!!!

The tops either resemble KFC chicken breast, deep-fried well...
or.. Soft white ducks!!

Wish I had the cam!!!
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Unread post by RWood »

TonyT wrote:
Aaron J Wilkinson wrote:Rahh!! Exciting stuff! If we keep going at this rate we'll have had a more eventfull tornado season than the states! Well, maybe not..........they didn't have the best season however just gone.
Cheers
This forum is playing no small part in helping keep track of all these events and helping to try to understand what causes them. As has been said before, doubtless there are many more torndaoes in NZ every year than we used to realise, but with all the keen observers out there now with cameras, the use of radar, satpix, and the expertise of people like NZstorm, we are noticing more and more of them.

I expect RWood will agree, its not that many years ago that the only way we got to hear about severe weather events like these was the monthly climate digest which used to arrive by mail from the old NZ Meteorological Service about 2 months after the end of the month, and there would be tanterlising tidbits about strong winds here or "what appears to be a small tornado" there, and all you could do was go down to the public library and try to find info from back issues of the regional newspapers. Its all very different now, and well done to all the forum users for actually taking the time to go out and report on what has happened.

Does anyone actually keep a record of all these events reported here? Are there any NIWA lurkers out there noting it all down somewhere?
Amen to that. I think Trevor McGavin does do a very good job with his Newsletter contributions, and it would be great if they got a wider circulation.

As a reflection on the lack of information in the "old days", Ereck Brenstrum discovered while collecting reports on the massive Feb 1936 event that many people were unaware of anything going on in other parts of the country - there were several cases of NZ WW2 troops who found on chatting that each thought his place was the only one that got "clobbered" (the storm seriously affected the entire North Island and Marlborough).
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Scattering of thunderstorms still active in the Waikato-Bay of Plenty regions..
Still thunder rumbling to the south now.
Altostatus layers have moved in however so tops invisble or they've moved overhead :D

Well done to the MetService for nowcasting :roll: , took about 6 hours to do so on the SC/TS outlook. No mention of thunder or hail on the urban forecasts :?
I think I should do it myself! ;)
A broad trough lying from the eastern Tasman Sea and Waikato to Gisborne is moving slowly north and weakening. From Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato to Gisborne there are isolated thunderstorms, and hail has been reported in the Waikato, but these thunderstorms are expected to subside in the late afternoon.One or two could be severe from Whakatane eastwards as slow storm motions imply some locally heavy falls of 25 to 40mm per hour (Whakatane airport received 35mm in an hour or less between 9 and 10am and a total of 47mm fell nearby). No thunderstorms forecast elsewhere.
Gee, go Whakatane!

Note the report of hail in the Waikato... was it me? Do they look at this? They must do..
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Tops visible again and yes they're still KFC chicken or soft white ducks...
Still lots of thermal lift out there, thunderstoms still developing and moving northwards, light westerlies at surface.

The convection now is as good as it was late morning when things were turning 'green' like it does in Brisbane and hailstorms soon eventuate
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Unread post by NZstorm »

Can see those cb tops from here in Grey Lynn Foggy.
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