Complex Trough and Thunderstorms - Apr 27-29

[Tornado Tim]

Got some nice convergence that is very dark at the base, it is hitting the cap atm so will have to see if it will burst through it.

[Tornado Tim]

Nice CB has just pushed through the Cap, Dumping rain NE of me.
The CB is moving South. Pileus Caps visible as updraft is strong...
Will keep updating...

[David]

Very humid here today, dewpoints reached 18°C this afternoon.

[Manukau heads obs]

can see some nice looking CB tops way out to sea to the west of here

[Tornado Tim]

The baro here is dropping by 2.0mb/hr Rain is coming...

[David]

Took my umbrella to uni for nothing again today, thanks a second time metservice

[Myself]

Heavy rain? Flash flooding? It must be a weather bomb...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2370278/

Greymouth hit by 'weather bomb'
Last updated 16:06 28/04/2009 - NZPA

A sudden deluge in Greymouth has badly damaged a number of houses and it will be several weeks before the residents are allowed to return.

Greymouth appeared to suffer the worst from a band of heavy rain that moved up the country last night - prompting rain warnings from the MetService and cautions on road conditions.

Eleven people were evacuated in Greymouth, including two from council pensioner flats, when more than 10cm of rain fell in a few hours.

Some were able to return to their homes today but other houses, including the pensioner flats, were presently uninhabitable, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told NZPA.

A "massive weather bomb and flash flood" saw one house knee-deep in water and the volume of water going down the road made it look like a little river, he said.

"You have to see it to believe it."

cont...

[Manukau heads obs]

sat image shows a big blow of going to move down onto the auckland area next few hours
rain radar seems to have stopped updating?

[Tornado Tim]

I noticed that Brian as well. So typical that it is not updating when you want to use it....

[Manukau heads obs]

rain radar seems to be back
extensive area of solid rain moving towards the auckland/waitkato in the new few hours
I have not picked up any lightning strikes from it yet though.....

[Storm Struck]

Day 3 of temperatures into the mid twenties again, looks like 1mm of rain fell in the early hours of this morning and quite a heavy band out to sea so maybe there was some thundery activity in there.
There was occasional flashes to the North and NW around 11pm last night, and noticed a few CB's along the foothills today with weaker CU forms moving eastwards throughout the day.
Waimakariri was bank to bank today which as seen on the news forced the closure of the old bridge due to its structural problems which i wish they would fix instead of closing it every time there is flood waters .
I mean they are putting up new baracades on the motorway bridge at the moment and that comes first priority to a bridge that is at risk of collapsing .
It feels quite strange that after 3 days of warm weather there is just going to be some rain and snow to very high elevations, normally i would expect quite a significant polar blast.
Unfortunatly the low isnt as deep now as it crosses the South Island tomorrow night, so it wont be firing in as much cold air.
Cheers
Jason.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Weather watch in place for the Canterbury Foothills. Maybe some more brief heavy rain for the Waimakiariri to try cope with.

[spwill]

extensive area of solid rain moving towards the auckland/waitkato in the new few hours

Yes, nice Cb blow up to our north, dewpoints around 16C, should give some local heavy falls.

[ricky]

And some very heavy rain with a lot of lightning activity now out to sea due west of Auckland on the southern edge of the rainfall... see anything out there Brian?

[jamie]

Been a very muggy day so far. This blowup thats heading our way looks to have just gone through a shrinking stage and is beginning to blow up again just offshore. Hope it continus to grow over land! Some very heavy rain in parts of it too.

[spwill]

Yes, plenty of strikes just west of Auckland over the last hour as a stronger cell passed by, low cloud cover here and dry.

[Manukau heads obs]

sorry guys, went to bed early, LOL
very heavy rain here at 6am, 5mm /min max at one stage!
we got 8mm in about 15 minutes

[Tornado Tim]

Heavy rain just hitting here 55.4mm/hr!

[NZstorm]

That overnight thunderstorm was long track, passing west of Auckland and making landfall in west Waikato running through to about Taupo.

The numbers for Saturday suggest thunder/hail. Auckland forecast 500mb temp is -26C. Forecast LI -3.

[Manukau heads obs]

my graph shows lots of nearby strikes for about half an hour from 10:30pm
just after I went to bed, LOL

[Manukau heads obs]

reports from waiuku that lightning visible last night for a long time

[jamie]

yes i was watching the lightning on the trackers until 1am last night. You would have had a good view from where you are Brian! Sounds like there was some torrential rain around last night. Jeez the numbers for this weekend are looking awesome

[Dale]

I look out over Glenbrook / Waiuku from here and can say that there was some nice lightning visible until I called it quits around 2330.. just having another line pass through now but nothing like the big punch that hit around 0600 this morning.. even that woke me up & im known to be a bombproof sleeper!

[spwill]

Dewpoints have dropped here from 18C to 14C, morning cloud cover has cleared, nice here now, fine 20C light winds.

SE at the weekend with that cold upper air, will we see afternoon heating cloud buildups/showers or is the sun too weak now.

[Storm Struck]

We had steady rain from midnight last night for a time which eased off by this morning, i did notice the wind was Easterly around 9pm here so i am not quite sure why that happened.
Rain has picked up again since midday steady to heavy at times with intermixed cold rain droplets, almost looks like sleet although its perhaps not quite cold enough.
Currently 8C and dropping slowly with a cold W-SW wind, interesting to note that MS yesterday were forecasting rain to move in from the north this evening but now say rain spreading through Canterbury to reach Marlborough later on.
So perhaps there has been a change in where they intially thought the rain would move from, MSLP picks up an interesting looking low system for next Tuesday deepening to 1000hpa off BP and firing some big gales.
Having said that its a week away .
Cheers
Jason.