Thunderstorms, Upper NI, Sept 28th-30th

[NZstorm]

Hi Dean, thanks for the report and photos. This is interesting as it looks to add 2km onto the tornado track. Was there any precipitation at the time of the tornado?

[Vertigo]

a word of warning dean - dont ever utter the m-t word around here

[treetop]

not much in western BOP apart from the usual "anvil debri"showers that we get when you are getting hammered in Auckland . - Some lightning to the north last night.Our time is oct/nov when we have a light southerly,hot morning and a cold pool upstairs .Enjoyed the pictures guys :crazy !!!

[Michael]

Think we got everything we want this month apart from no snow,Ending on a bang,high sunshine totals and warm days,extreme duirnals in some areas almost frost the beginning of the month,thunder on 2 days and rain to top the tanks up.

[Philip Duncan]

Michael - I absolutely agree with you! Here's to a similar October!

[Dean]

NZstorm - yes there was very heavy rain for a few minutes before it hit, which stopped almost immediately after the damage was done.

Vertigo - not sure what you mean by this, can you describe what likely caused the damage? It was very localised. Cheers

[Nev]

Hi Dean, welcome and greatly appreciate your sharring that info.

Perhaps I should briefly explain what Vertigo meant. He was referring to the media's obsession with prefixing any tornadic event here with the term 'mini'. This practice has long been the bane of both weather enthusiasts and most professional meteorologists alike, because we feel it tends to give the impression that we don't get 'real' tornadoes in NZ, or that it demeans the serious nature of any tornado. A tornado is either a tornado or it isn't, regardless of how small. Yes, our tornadoes are generally small compared to some of those in the US that often bombard our screens, but they still have the potential to cause serious damage or kill someone and should never be treated lightly. We feel referring to them 'small' or 'weak' is much more apt than referring to them as 'miniature'. The media do however seem to be learning. Hope that clarifies things a little.

[Dean]

Hi Nev, thanks for the info, I would agree that a tornado is a tornado, although as you say, in this case a small one It would have been interesting to know how fast some of the glass shards went through the air, by the looks of things extremely fast to cut through steel (although the weight behind a pane of glass would have some effect as well I guess).

[Dale]

Indeed welcome aboard Dean & thanks for sharing those photos & account of your damage. I am just down the road a little & was completely rained in at the time of the tornado but had I not been, might have seen an incredible view of it!
Perchance, are you near the "HotHouse" just up there off the highway or further towards Drury itself?
Only asking as the wifey heard some passing comments from her work colleagues about a series of glasshouses being decimated in the area, so picking now it is you.

[Manukau heads obs]

is there not some glass houses up on the hill that were derelect in the first place (I seem to remember)
(re Ricky's comment about that)

[Dale]

Could be, there are heaps around the area though. I know the exact area where the first lot of damage photos pages back were taken, travel up Ararimu Rd often as a rat run into Hunua.

[Weather Watcher]

NZstorm - yes there was very heavy rain for a few minutes before it hit, which stopped almost immediately after the damage was done.

This sounds more like a downburst than a tornado.

[spwill]

This sounds more like a downburst than a tornado.

The damage path was very narrow perhaps only 10m wide in places

[Dean]

Hi Dale, we're just up the road a few hundred metres from Stevenson's Quarry in Drury. Hothouse are probably around 5 to 10 mins drive from here.

[Dale]

Cool thanks Dean.
You've thrown a cat amongst the pidgeons so to speak with your report of heavy rainfall proceeding the windblast. Could very well be a microburst/downburst if restricted to such an area and damage swathe, however from my own personal experiences back in Australia have been through similar destructive events which one of them in the end did turn out to be a small rain wrapped tornado.

One for the books and further study.

[Weather Watcher]

This sounds more like a downburst than a tornado.

The damage path was very narrow perhaps only 10m wide in places

That comment sounds more like a small tornado - I'm confused!

[03Stormchaser]

The damage path was very narrow perhaps only 10m wide in places

That comment sounds more like a small tornado - I'm confused!

If the tornado had been touching down then lifting in its path as it sounds like it did, then I would think its well possible.

One the TV3 news article that night, they called it both a tornado and a downburst!

[spwill]

Weather Watcher wrote,

That comment sounds more like a small tornado - I'm confused!

Yes, the evidence suggests it was a Tornado.

small rain wrapped tornado.

The weather was probably very messy, I often stop on the Ramarama motarway overpass when I am following weather down there, I wonder if the Tornado could have been seen from there at any stage , about 2km away.

[Michael]

Probably a tornado the type that briefly touch down and go up again except it spent more times on the ground.How we often see pictures of the ones that dont extend down.

[DT-NZ]

Hi Dean,

Welcome to NZWF... the folks here are really great, anyway, look forward to reading your weather reports from your area... great pics thank you, take care

[Brassnz]

Quoted from NZ Herald today 2/10/09 (Sideswipe column). For interest only, and relevant to this thread...

Disaster tourism: A reader writes: "Yes, we were hit by the Ramarama tornado on Monday. Yes, we did suffer some house damage that could have been a lot worse. Yes, there were trees uprooted and we have been covered like confetti by shards of glass from a neighbouring greenhouse. Though any damage is upsetting, we were not as badly affected as some. We don't mind the rubberneckers driving along the road to have a look. What we do find hard to understand are the nosy rubberneckers who actually drive right into the property and up the drive to have a look and take their photographs and go without so much as a courteous hello! Is there something about human nature that makes us serious about the misfortunes of others without a concern for the privacy of others."

[Manukau heads obs]

I see in the Franklin County News that the wife yelled out to the Husband, there is a tornado coming across the paddock!
and he just though, yeah, right !

[spwill]

Disaster tourism

They must have had a lot of people down there looking at the damage .
My policy when taking photos is do not disturb.

[Manukau heads obs]

check out
http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/d ... properties

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Nice waterspout display.
You can see the turbulance in the waves

JohnGaul
NZThS