NZ Weather Forum

we lost power again not long after I signed off, (but this time I had the data logger set to 1 minute logging instead of 30 minutes) LOL
SWer picking up here
sat pic shows the low did do what the models suggested and pass over east cape and not hawkes bay
are you sure you have your barometer set correct boris?, as napier is at 981 at 6am with the low passing to the north, and gisborne 975
winds not as strong in the north now from the SW
the low looks to have weakened now
so not expecting the big SWer that I though here in auckland now

Remarkably quiet night. Slept through everything.

Mount Te Aroha TV Transmissions are off air. Thank heavens for Freeview eh, only TV3 & C4 being transmitted terrestrially from Kopukairua locally.

Ok heres the stats from my station

Baro low 971.4 hPa @ 0300
Rain (0900 reset) 36mm (none since 0430)
Wind max gust 71.2 kmh SSE @ 0534

so we got off fairly lightly here in Tauranga

I see the wind warnings are now lifted for us, before the SW gale even eventuates (maybe it won't eventuate for some reason)? Looking like another windy (or maybe not) and wet day today. Pressure low last here night was 969.2hPa.

Regarding yesterday's gale, there are quite a few twigs down off of our trees (no branches). I thought the July storm last year did more damage in this area. Hopefully I will be able to get on the streets sometime today to check it out without getting wet.

the low has weakened david
it peaked as it crossed the far north (for central pressure)
and so the SW winds on the northern side are not as strong as they were yesterday
but given the pressure gradient, I am surprised the SW wind is not stronger here

photo of the normal tranquil waters of the manukau harbour

philip duncan wrote:

spwill wrote:Philip Duncan wrote,
...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.

After having looked at the observations from overnight and this morning, this last paragraph is a gross over reaction to the situation from somebody who doesn't really understand the situation...

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.

Paul

my thinkings:
looking at the sat image, there is still a band of strong westerlies on the northern side of the low (east of northland)...which is what cape reinga was getting late last night, but which moved ESE with the low and so did not affect areas further south in northland/auckland as much
there is a sort of trough, extending out to the west of northland, that has been left back over the upper NI , which will be why I think the SWer is not as strong as expected originaly, this morning,
but, having said that, the SW wind is slowly increasing here at the moment though
ps, looks like the Mokohinau AWS windspeed/direction has been broken?

Only 32mm rainfall recorded here in the 24hrs to 10am today. Hardly a breath of wind here at present.

As mentioned, for Auckland, Brian recorded 968.7 hPa at 9:30pm and Ricky 969.2 hPa at 10:05pm (Akld Aero hourly METAR 970 hPa at 10pm).
Anyone know what the lowest historical pressure ever recorded around Auckland was?

According to this MetService site, the lowest pressure ever recorded in New Zealand was 954 hPa at Taiaroa Head (Dunedin) in 1939. Presumably 963 hPa is the lowest ever recorded for in the North Island?

(total 40.0mm here from this event)

i think my baro is set up to 1hpa too low (after I had changed a bit of hardware a while back I had not got it matching up perfectly yet), so dont go on my reading (as I was further away from the low center)

Thanks for clarifying that Brian (yes, I did wonder ).
Do you think it's safe to say Akld got down to 'about' 969 hPa last night?

EDIT: looks like Peninsula Estate, Waiheke may have been Auckland's lowest at 968.9 hPa at 10:56pm, and St Heliers at 969.1 hP.

yes

hmmm maybe it isnt set right lol, ill look into it.

Seems there have been 2 separate boating tragedies in the Bay of Plenty in the last 24 hrs.

The missing body of a 33-year-old canoeist was found washed up on Matakana Island late this morning after falling out of his canoe in 60 knot winds and 6-7 metre swells about 500 metres off Mt Maunganui beach just before 5pm on Saturday. And two died after an 18-metre commercial fishing vessel ran aground east of Opotiki about 3.30am this morn (two others survived).

Why would you canoe in this weather, there was warning in advance..

must have been a good bet

Perhaps I should've elaborated a little more for (just for the record). The canoeist was one of a group of four who attempted to paddle from Maketu to Pilot Bay after a race they were due to take part in was cancelled (not doubt due to conditions). The other three made it back safely.

But yes Ryan, the mind boggles...

It's interesting to learn that TV One news now calls this a fatal storm.
As far as I'm concerned, all of the tragedies would of been avoided if these people had used common sense.
All the appropriate warnings were in place.

JohnGaul
NZTS

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/im ... ry_id=1679

Myriads of photos of the storm/damage.

I thought it were strange how Northland coastlines were getting winds over 130km/hr and the worst Auckland coasts could seem to get was no higher than 100km/h.

You talk'n sustained-winds or gusts? MetService apparently recorded average speeds in Auckland peaking at 4pm of 96km/h, gusting to 130km/h. This is also the first time Waiheke ferries have been cancelled since the July 10, 180 km/h gusts last year.

Nev wrote:You talk'n sustained-winds or gusts? MetService apparently recorded average speeds in Auckland peaking at 4pm of 96km/h, gusting to 130km/h. This is also the first time Waiheke ferries have been cancelled since the July 10, 180 km/h gusts last year.

I don't want to get into an argument over this. I mean wind over land, in the suburbs, not in the harbours or on a hilltop. Peak here was 89km/h before 2pm. There is the odd damaged tree and fence in the area.
However on July 10th last year there was widespread fence destruction and many uprooted trees here. One of the largest trees in a reserve close to here was uprooted, it was apparently a 100-year old macrocarpa reported in the local paper at the time. The wind also severely damaged a huge conifer close to here to the point of endangering houses! Sadly no weather station here then but based on this storm, I would estimate gusts of 100km/h or slightly higher then.

I would like to have known where these apparent speeds were recorded by the metservice.

we recorded stronger winds here this time than last july
as I mentioned earlier, in an easterly, the kaimia and coromandel range and the hunua range sets up a wave in the wind, which results in bands of stronger winds and bands of not as strong winds
you must have been in a band of stronger winds las july (and I was not)

the same thing occurs in canterbury in a NWer

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:It's interesting to learn that TV One news now calls this a fatal storm.
As far as I'm concerned, all of the tragedies would of been avoided if these people had used common sense.
All the appropriate warnings were in place.

JohnGaul
NZTS

Yes id agree...why go to sea with a forecaste like this one.?

re the mt ruapehu closing
mountain weather is unpredictable...a mountain creates its own weather...those in charge should be aware of how quickly things change, and with the low from the north approaching at 30 knots...well...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4633252a11.html
i guess the operators took a gamble on the timing...on lost...

Here is my attempt of filming the wind on Saturday afternoon. These are the trees in our back yard (they lost quite a few twigs) - I think the big gust around the middle of the clip was approaching 80km/h.
http://howickwx.googlepages.com/MOV00486.AVI
(10MB, 28seconds)