Monday 12th: Severe Gales, Snow and Storms

ricky · Unread post by **ricky** » Mon 12/06/2006 13:32

Wind is really picking up again here now from the NW.. gusts to 70kph
Still on generator power here but lots of auckland is back on, we got 1 sec of power 20mins ago lol

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Mon 12/06/2006 13:34

Razor wrote:I can't remember any storm being this widespread and damaging!
-Power out in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, many parts of the eastern South Island
- Snow enforced closures and buildign collapses reported in South Canterbury and North
- gales in Wellington
-severe gales and heavy downpours in Auckland, flooding in Taranaki
- Report of a tornado in Tauranga
- Grey River close to bursting in Greymouth

WOW!

I believe this qualifies for the Action Weather category.

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Mon 12/06/2006 13:42

Almost 50 current power outages in the area covered by Orion:

http://www.oriongroup.co.nz/Default.htm ... rs/Outages

KiwiWeather · Unread post by **KiwiWeather** » Mon 12/06/2006 13:44

Gary Roberts wrote: I believe this qualifies for the Action Weather category.

The jury was ready to go out on this discussion but on seeing the weather outside, they quickly returned and filed a verdict of 2nd degree ACTION!

squid · Unread post by **squid** » Mon 12/06/2006 13:57

you could say that your current weather is active to say the least

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Mon 12/06/2006 14:39

Wind has tended WNW now, with explosive gusts to 70km/h and driving showers.

My baro dropped to 989.2mb, climbing now..

Nelson Airport on 977mb at 2pm

Anymore on this tornado in Tauranga???

Razor · Unread post by **Razor** » Mon 12/06/2006 14:46

Heard it on a radio bulletin this morning- Radio Live

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Mon 12/06/2006 14:51

Now gone southerly here - just miserable, not spectacular at present. But it's been great - loads of sunshine last week, then a big NW blow - was walking south towards harbour last night with strong warm (for the time of year and day) wind behind, then the rain squalls later in the night.

Now the southerly has arrived I'll be happy to see a reversion to Michael's dreaded SW/WSW

squid · Unread post by **squid** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:20

hehe just wait for it he will soon surface

977 at nelson i thought it would go below 980

Paul Mallinson · Unread post by **Paul Mallinson** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:24

Razor wrote:I can't remember any storm being this widespread and damaging!
-Power out in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, many parts of the eastern South Island
- Snow enforced closures and buildign collapses reported in South Canterbury and North
- gales in Wellington
-severe gales and heavy downpours in Auckland, flooding in Taranaki
- Report of a tornado in Tauranga
- Grey River close to bursting in Greymouth

WOW!

Hi,

Razor, where did you pick up the report of a tornado in Tauranga?

Paul

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:33

Razor wrote:I can't remember any storm being this widespread and damaging!
-Power out in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, many parts of the eastern South Island
- Snow enforced closures and buildign collapses reported in South Canterbury and North
- gales in Wellington
-severe gales and heavy downpours in Auckland, flooding in Taranaki
- Report of a tornado in Tauranga
- Grey River close to bursting in Greymouth

WOW!

Fair comment, but it depends on your timescale. Ex-tropical "Giselle" in March/April 1968 started with Northland floods and ended with southern floods 2-3 weeks later - and did a little bit of damage in between!

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:35

Ohh dear I hear sirens.. a lot too.. must be that time again

Cameo1 · Unread post by **Cameo1** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:36

I can see the anvil of a big CB over the Kaipara area

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:41

Power is still off at my place.

JP. · Unread post by **JP.** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:45

What are the chances that the next front moving over invercargill now will bring colder southerlies and more cold rain \ snow?? The weather image I saw seems to show the isobars coming directly and deeply from the south..

Willoughby · Unread post by **Willoughby** » Mon 12/06/2006 15:53

JP wrote:What are the chances that the next front moving over invercargill now will bring colder southerlies and more cold rain \ snow?? The weather image I saw seems to show the isobars coming directly and deeply from the south..

Where are you from JP? Welcome to the forum anyway!

Things should start to clear up in Chch tomorrow mornng thanks to some sheltering.

Manukau heads obs · Mon 12/06/2006 15:55

drove around again, came across another microcarpa across another road.....which i had been on earlier...
recorded windspeeds of 63 knots (115kmh or so)with the car mounted anenometer up at the heads (800 feet altitude)
and 53 knots down on the west coast, hamiltons gap......lots of sand blowing....not beach weather...

JP. · Unread post by **JP.** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:01

Foggy Hamilton wrote:
JP wrote:What are the chances that the next front moving over invercargill now will bring colder southerlies and more cold rain \ snow?? The weather image I saw seems to show the isobars coming directly and deeply from the south..
Where are you from JP? Welcome to the forum anyway!

Things should start to clear up in Chch tomorrow mornng thanks to some sheltering.

South West Christchurch Wigram / Halswell to be excat, we're going easy on the power bill this month so if I make some typing mistakes its cause its barely 10c inside

Cameo1 · Unread post by **Cameo1** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:07

Gary Roberts wrote:
Cameo1 wrote:The wind has picked up again, this time from the west. Its still sunny though.
Oh, well, thank God! Off to the beach then?

Oh Darn, Gary and me were going off to the beach for some sand bathing.

squid · Unread post by **squid** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:24

a news update for ya

Power slowly being restored in Auckland after blackout

UPDATED 4.20pm Monday June 12, 2006

Power was gradually being restored to Auckland this afternoon after a blackout brought the city to a standstill.

Though power was reported to be finally restored after about four hours at 12.40pm, Auckland City Council said an hour later that 80 per cent of the city was still without electricity.

At 2.45pm, power company Vector said power had been restored to most parts of Auckland except for Penrose, the Eastern Suburbs, Glen Innes, and Otahuhu.

The council changed earlier advice telling people to stay put. It said this afternoon that parents should arrange to collect children from school and employers should send staff home if they were able to in order to avoid rush hour congestion.

It said Vector was predicting all power would be restored by 4.30pm

Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard said questions had to be asked about why the CBD and 700,000 people should lose electricity through one section of power line going out.

"It would be appropriate to ask questions why and whether there is an unreasonable level of vulnerability," he said.

The storm sweeping up the country also brought heavy snow to the South Island. Mid and south Canterbury woke up to the first heavy snowfall of the season.

Schools were closed in Christchurch and Timaru and Christchurch International Airport was closed from about 8.30am.

Auckland City Police mobilised its district emergency management plan and the city council activated its emergency operations centre.

Middlemore and Auckland City hospitals cancelled all surgery and emergency departments were handling urgent cases only. North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals were not affected.

The fire service and lift companies released some people trapped in elevators.

Traffic lights

More than 300 sets of traffic lights were out in central Auckland and a Vector spokeswoman said Manukau was also affected, while police said the power cut stretched to Hamilton. Thousands of homes, businesses and shops were without power.

The blackout stopped trains on the Auckland network. Back-up systems came into operation and allowed limited services to operate, but one passenger, Jon Reeves, told nzherald.co.nz it took him 2 hours to get to work on a journey which usually takes 20 minutes.

A spokesman for Ontrack in Auckland said this morning: "We haven't been able to bring trains into Britomart station. Passengers have been discharged at Newmarket and the Strand and subsequent services have been scheduled to operate to and from there.

"An earlier ... failure on the Western Line, that disrupted services from 6am, was unrelated to the power failure. It has now been repaired."

Strong winds and a high tide were causing the sea to break over the causeway on Tamaki Drive. Some motorists were driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid the waves and traffic was backed up in the morning rush hour.

MetService issued a weather warning this morning saying high winds would affect the whole of the North Island while snow would continue but then ease in Canterbury.

A Vector spokeswoman said the cause of the Auckland blackout was a fault on the Transpower network. She said: "An earth wire has snapped and fallen across the 110 kv feeder from the Otahuhu substation.

"All efforts are focused on restoring power as soon as possible."

Transpower's Chris Roberts said 1000 megawatts of supply had been lost at a time on a winter's morning when close to 2000 megawatts would normally be used.

Transpower presumed the power failure was weather related but could not rule out a maintenance-related problem, he said.

Cellphone coverage was also affected in Auckland.

Police asked people in Auckland to only contact them in emergencies as they were aware of the weather and power situation. They said some drivers were guilty of "lunacy" in the bad conditions, doing U-turns and driving the wrong way.

The fire service said it had received around 50 calls by mid-morning, including some from people trapped in lifts in the Auckland CBD. Fallen trees and powerlines were also causing problems on the roads.

Auckland council said a number of its wastewater pumps were without power and asked people not to wash clothes or dishes and only flush toilets when absolutely necessary.

Mobile telephones should only be used for essential calls, the council said.

High winds caused the closure of Tauranga Airport this morning and a fallen tree closed the northbound lane on SH22 at Pukekohe Golf course.

Severe gales battered the lower North Island overnight bringing down tree braches and power lines on SH5 on the Napier to Taupo road.

Heavy rain is forecast for later today bringing flooding.

An oil spill, heavy rains and gale force winds have also combined to close State Highway 1 between Pukerua Bay and Paraparaumu, 50km north of Wellington.

Central police communications spokesman Chris Turner said roading contractors were attempting to clean the oil spill and debris from the road.

Despite the severe conditions Cook Strait ferry sailings had not been affected and flights in and out of Wellington Airport were still on schedule.

MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said galeforce winds were expected to batter the country for the most of the morning.

The front would clear the North Island early afternoon and by tonight just showers and winds would be sweeping most of the country, he said.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:29

Power has just come back on down my street

, has been off for 8hrs

not a lot of work done today.

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:30

JP wrote:What are the chances that the next front moving over invercargill now will bring colder southerlies and more cold rain \ snow?? The weather image I saw seems to show the isobars coming directly and deeply from the south..

Hi JP. I'd like to know that too. The sky has cleared completely down here in Omarama and we're about to enjoy a magnificent sunset over the snow-covered high country. No sign of any further action weather, but maybe it's on the way.

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Mon 12/06/2006 16:31

There has been 3mm of rain since 3pm but hardly any wind.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Mon 12/06/2006 17:24

What are the chances that the next front moving over invercargill now will bring colder southerlies and more cold rain \ snow?? The weather image I saw seems to show the isobars coming directly and deeply from the south..

More snow for Chch tonight? I get back to the city and today's stuff has moved on. There's a layer of high cloud, but doesn't look like it'll deliver much now.
A rule of thumb - if there's snow in Chch, there won't be anything to low levels on the outer peninsula.

squid · Unread post by **squid** » Mon 12/06/2006 17:42

any more on that possible tornado in the BOP??