Major Low Pressure system - 8th to 12th May

[Manukau heads obs]

had another big thunderstorm and very heavy hail after getting home (from Kaitai (surfing safari))
lightning very loud (due to the only 7 C !)
15mm total since 9am
73mm for the month already

[NZstorm]

We need the sun out today. If we can get convection firing off the land today we will get good storms with lots of hail.

Very impressive cold pool on todays satellite picture.

[NZstorm]

You have caught the action over there Brian. No hail here overnight.

[Manukau heads obs]

it was cool sounding hail, it started off hail only, spaced apart, and you could hear it starting at one end of the house first (like someone with a harmer on the roof!)

[Tornado Tim]

No Hail just rain overnight, 4.4mm of rain since midnight.
Baro @ 993.2mb and -0.4mb/hr.
and for thunderstorms, the DPs need to be higher, they have been quite pathetic here as of late. around 7-9°C

[spwill]

Very impressive cold pool on todays satellite picture.

I have to go down to the SouthIsland today, bugger.

Heres a few shots of a Cb lighting up just SW of Auckland last night, a nice show for about 30mins.

[Manukau heads obs]

and for thunderstorms, the DPs need to be higher, they have been quite pathetic here as of late. around 7-9°C

plenty of lightning here!
(but the lightning activity weakens quickly over the colder land (compared to the 18C tasman)
note that 7 DP is relative...i.e temperature only 8C

[Janos]

Snow down to appox 300 metres currently 3deg.

[Manukau heads obs]

i see SI ski feilds are reporting the most snow for the time of year for 15 years

[spwill]

9C Dewpoint 7C was enough for storms to survive over land last night, a lot of Lightning just SW of Auckland. Yes, all relative to the upper levels.

[David]

Hmmm a bit disappointing for most of us so far...not surprised though as this always happens

[Manukau heads obs]

you can see the hail falling in this picy

[NZstorm]

I see the Met Service mention weak tornadoes in their convection forecast. GFS forecast LI's down to -4.3, CAPE 800j/kg for Auckland/North Waikato for early afternoon. Just need to sun out to get the landbased convection.

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

6mm since midnight with it all falling basically between midnight and 3am. Ice hail and sleety showers, heavy from 4pm yesterday with 36mm from yesterday morning to now, not bad from just showers and no steady prelonged rain periods. Sunny day here today currently 2 degrees. Tiny dusting on the port hills . Alps have heaps on them

[DT-NZ]

Morning,

Got an array of cloud layers overhead at the moment with a bit of blue sky and the sun peeking through, light breeze from the north. Nice air out there at the moment.. (breathing in gulps of it ) beautiful. Take care.

[Vertigo]

low pressure circulation evident on the auckland rain radar this morning. i see thunder over the past hour down south, but its just not enough to warrent a storm chase. (plus i have to be at work soon). hoping the afternoon produces a good storm, as nzstorm says..

but lets be honest, its a lot harder for storms to fire up in colder conditions than the height of summer. if low this intense had occurred in janurary, this thread would have reached page 20 by now.

[waterboy]

LOL so there it was the "polar blast"!!!
Out my window I can see an icing sugar coating of snow on the Alps which will be gone by the time I eat lunch! Any minute now the hot nor wester will start up for 6 months and blow it all away and we will have a nice warm winter without a few weeks of dirty slushy snow getting into every thing!

[tich]

Frequent rain showers overnight and early this morning about Akaroa - snow level about 450m. (fresh snow evident to that altitude)

[DT-NZ]

Black out there... have a heavy microburst of rain falling DB area now ... hope this stuff moves through quickly - and, hope we dont have a few days of this also ... go away rain...

[Manukau heads obs]

you must be related to Gary, waterboy, as you think like him

[Brassnz]

Rainfall totals over the weekend at our place: 74mm for the 72 hrs from 8am Friday to 8am today, with 35mm of that occurring in the 1st 24hr period. Confirms what others have said, that most of the action around Akld has remained in the West. We also had a couple of light hail showers overnight.

[Andrew Massie]

you must be related to Gary, waterboy, as you think like him

Yeah, waterboy.... I think I know you..! No fighting with Southernthrash, please!

[southernthrash]

Looks like the central MacKenzie was the only area of high country to escape this one then. Although Roundhill in the Two Thumb Range (right by Lake Tekapo) has copped a fair bit. Good snowfall down to the valley floor at Mt Cook. Snow down to 3-400m here in Dunedin, looks to be very heavy up Flagstaff.

Mt Hutt now have well in excess of a metre of snow on the ground. Southern Lakes fields have recieved 30 - 50 cm from this system at this stage.

Saturday is looking interesting (although a long way out), for a much heavier fall in the Central/Western Alps and Fiordland.

As far as I have heard, up to 10 cm down to 100 or so metres in Southland. Will have more details by the end of the day.

I thought Gary wasn't coming back? haha

No signs of a real nor'wester for a while... no doubt we will see one at some stage.

[waterboy]

LOL no not Gary.

What the thing is that when you grow up with the snow you know what a pain it is. Only the townies who come and play in it for a few days think its wonderful. They dont have to live with it and drive through it and track it through the house. To the townies it is oh so lovelyand magical but to us people who are born and bred with the stuff it is just a bloody nusance.

Ha ha - you can always tell who the townie snow tourists are. They are the people who drive around with snow on there cars and camper vans because they think it makes them look like mountain men!! The rest of us clean it off our cars first before we drive them!

[southernthrash]

I dunno man, I pretty much grew up with a fair bit of snow too, and I think it's pretty neat. Sure, digging a car out when it is completely buried in a drift, or trying to find and feed sheep is a bit of a pain, but hey, it comes with the territory. Then again, snow clearing on the roads is one fricken sweet job!

If you don't want to track it through the house - take your boots and jacket off at the door?

And seriously, why waste time cleaning snow off your car? It will melt off the bonnet pretty quickly anyway, and it isn't exactly a nuisance?

Surely if you despised snow that much, you would move to somewhere with a more agreeable climate?

Some of you MacKenzie folk are a funny bunch, why don't you get some xc skis and make the most of it?