Bomb Low: Jul 25-29th 2008

[Michael]

Wind has dropped here a lot,just at the tops the trees are moving here.

just had a power flick here. 1st of the day. sounds pretty nasty out there right now. i can understand how Te Aroha and Morrinsvile have been hit hard. Wind is probably at its strongest now jugding by the sound of the roar by the gum trees outside.

[jamie]

foggy did u just see a flash of lightning? Im pretty sure i did just on the corner of my eye.

[Philip Duncan]

You can clearly see the centre of the low in the radar images...spiralling away...looks so impressive...reminds me of the hurricanes that move in to the USA. It's a big centre ...I know it's not technically an eye but it looks like one. Just posted this to someone on my site: "The latest radar image shows the centre of the low moving off out to sea at Whangarei. It's no longer going to make a direct hit over Auckland and the air pressure has started to rise...in other words, you can probably have a sigh of relief...worst is over. Will be a big tide tonight though which could cause further problems...aaand a strengthening southerly or sou'wester which might gust to 120km/h at times in several hours".

I think I've overdosed on weather today...lol Time for a wine and time to watch the All Blacks!!

[David]

Hasn't turned out to be an exceptional storm for most of Auckland. Northland appears to have been battered quite hard. Pressure struggling to dip under 970hPa this evening, currently 970.6hPa and falling slowly...what pressure is needed for it to be a record?

[Manukau heads obs]

power back on here after 6 hours with no power
55 knots max gust from the east
baro here at 969!
but wind turning SE here....so low going to pass to the east of me here, over auckland or just to the east of auckland city

[Philip Duncan]

Winds returning to far north - up to 161km/h in the past hour.

[Manukau heads obs]

Winds returning to far north - up to 161km/h in the past hour.

yes, no sigh of relief should be said
its the SW wind that auckland is more exposed to that going to cause more problems, thats still coming this way

[Philip Duncan]

Sorry I must clairfy - I meant sigh of relief as in the strongest winds we had today weren't going to keep on building. Yes definitely the tail end will have a bit kick in it and I was surprised to hear MetService saying the south west winds wouldn't be anything like this afternoon's winds...it's already reached 160km/h in the Far North and I can see on the radar that the sou'westers are very soon about to move in to Auckland.

[Manukau heads obs]

the rain radar loop seems to indicate that the low center is over warkworth area, and has come a bit detached and left behind from the 2nd front that developed....just at the moment anyway....interesting stuff to watch!

ps really like those photos nzstorm of the sea conditions at orewa

[Philip Duncan]

Was just thinking the exact same thing...as if there's a secondary low forming over Warkworth... this is very addictive...(unhealthy I'm sure!)

[drew]

Wind been building all day in the Naki...
Had to rescue my wheelie bins and put them in the shed.
Cold too, south-easterlies.

Are we getting the updraft? Pretty blustery.

Drew

[Manukau heads obs]

ok, new center re location is occuring, with that break away front.....center now more easily seen....moving onto the coromendal by the looks
going to hit the sack here now

[Brassnz]

Constant rain here since abt 7pm, wind occasionally gusty but still nothing really to write home about. Rain 25mm since 10am, temp approx 10deg. Go the All Blacks.

[ricky]

Barometer has just started rising here now with the wind direction now Southerly.. was a great record low pressure of 969.2 hPa

[spwill]

Philip Duncan wrote,

I was surprised to hear MetService saying the south west winds wouldn't be anything like this afternoon's winds...it's already reached 160km/h in the Far North and I can see on the radar that the sou'westers are very soon about to move in to Auckland.

The Weather Watch Centre has a Storm Alert for northern New Zealand with south west winds developing this evening and after midnight with exposed northern regions receiving gusts to 120km/h. The Storm Alert for 180km/h north east gusts specifically for the eastern Waikato town of Te Aroha will remain in place until 10pm then the winds will ease to lighter sou'westers.

[kaimaikid]

nothing too exciting here today in Tauranga, Low pressure is 975.9 and still dropping, biggest gust of only 48.2 kph @ 20.53, and only 24.2mm rain so far...

[Michael]

Going to be a noisy night here with the SW.

[Philip Duncan]

Philip Duncan wrote,

I was surprised to hear MetService saying the south west winds wouldn't be anything like this afternoon's winds...it's already reached 160km/h in the Far North and I can see on the radar that the sou'westers are very soon about to move in to Auckland.

The Weather Watch Centre has a Storm Alert for northern New Zealand with south west winds developing this evening and after midnight with exposed northern regions receiving gusts to 120km/h. The Storm Alert for 180km/h north east gusts specifically for the eastern Waikato town of Te Aroha will remain in place until 10pm then the winds will ease to lighter sou'westers.

We actually re-issed our Storm Alert in the past hour: "And the Weather Watch Centre has re-issued a Storm Alert for northern New Zealand with south west winds developing this evening and after midnight with exposed northern regions receiving gusts over 150km/h again and about 140km/h in exposed regions around Auckland. The Storm Alert for 180km/h north east gusts specifically for the eastern Waikato town of Te Aroha have now expired.

[Nev]

Power just back on here on Waiheke. Oneroa station back online http://www.waihekeweather.net/Oneroa/peninsula.htm (looks like the data logger didnt work Ricky) I climbed up on the roof of the Winery at approx 4:30 and replaced the anemometer.

Lot's of local outages here on Waiheke - only lost it here at Palm Beach/Ostend for 3-4 hrs this arvo. Great that Woolworths have a new generator, but they'll be low on stock with no car-ferries today and probably tomorrow morn. Think Fullers have only run a few today as well.

37mm here so far since about 6am.

[Philip Duncan]

Would also like to add that MetService has really been fantastic today at reacting quickly to this storm and any changes within it. I've had chats with Bob McDavitt over the past few months about warnings being updated faster and the efforts from MetService over the past 72 hours have been really top-notch. So well done to any Met guys in here.

[spwill]

We actually re-issed our Storm Alert in the past hour:

Cheers

[Philip Duncan]

Winds averaging 130km.h in the Far North and gusting to 174km/h! This is a crazy storm!

[GraemeWi]

We lost power late this afternoon, so drove up to Helensville to get a hot feed via State 16 - I expect there to be flooding on the next high tide as the paddocks alongside the highway were brimming, and that was 2-3 hours after low tide.

[Brassnz]

This has been our most sustained period of rain today. Not heavy but persistent. No wind to speak of - but more on the way???

[borris89]

barometer currently reading 966mb here. had quite a bit of rain today and the wind is just startn to pick up but still not that strong.