Complex Trough and Heavy Snow Event - 2nd-6th Oct

[Philip Duncan]

The centre of the low is so clear on the radar images at the moment, hugging the coast north of New Plymouth to north of Auckland. Explains why winds are gale force there and quite calm in Auckland.

[spwill]

It's apparently now snowing in Taupo down by the lake.

Looks like the the big snow event of this Winter .

Clearing skies here and much cooler, 12C dewpoint 11C. Mid afternpoon temp was 17C with a dewpoint of 15C.

[Vertigo]

thanks for the pic, DT

quite a difference now from the humidity of the past day or two. feels very cool and dry.

[Manukau heads obs]

was talking to the brother in law in Taupo
yup, was snowing, and settlting too, big flakes...but raining again..but he suspects it will start snowing again
3C at his place

I see that at 6pm, Hamilton was 10c but Paeroa at 17c!

[jamie]

temp has dropped 6 degrees in the last hour at my parents. down to 7.9 with a windchill of 3.3

[Tornado Tim]

7.3°C and a windchill down to 4°C here

[jamie]

sounds like its getting rather bad around the central NI. people on trademe saying power flicking with some lines down, trees cracking and some down. the pictures show the snow is getting quite deep. feel sorry for the people that have to put up with it all but heck i cant wait to get down to the mountain for a board.

[Manukau heads obs]

you picked this warm advection snow event well in advance NZstorm

reports I see of the army having to rescue stuck motorists from the snow

[Michael]

Its here can write all over the windows like in June.

[Storm Struck]

Very much back to a wintry scene today with the typical showers wafting through of rain/hail in town that is.
Dry out this way not even 1mm in the gauge, crazy stuff.
Just wondering if the wrap around from the SE is going to happen overnight, as the low over the NI flicks to the east.
Most likly be very little if anything.

[Manukau heads obs]

300 motorists trapped by the snow, billed as the heaviest in 25 years...and basicly not forecasted/warned by the M/S until too late, yes?

[spwill]

300 motorists trapped by the snow, billed as the heaviest in 25 years...and basicly not forecasted/warned by the M/S until too late, yes?

There was a watch/warning yesterday.
Christchurch weather in Auckland this morning, 6C, want the fohn NW now.

[Michael]

On the radio today they say it will be "colder sw" this arvo I dont believe it will get colder (infact be warmer closer to sea temperature) with that as the sea will tempest the air.

[Manukau heads obs]

I thought there must have been some sort of warning out
but I guess if people were already travelling they might have missed that

[drew]

Weather has eased in South Taranaki somewhat, but there was sleet sliding down the widows for a while this morning. Very fresh outside!

Went for a drive up the mountain and some poor Fulton Hogan bloke has drawn short straws and has to sit all day at the enrance to the national park on the road up to Dawsons Falls telling everyone they need chains.
I have a 4 wheel drive so he let me through and I did not have to go very far up the road to be in falling snow.
Didnt get far, the snow got deeper and deeper on the road so without chains I turned around and came home.

Have to go to New Plymouth this arvo so might take a tiki tour and see how far up the road to the Stratford Mountain House I can go...

Drew

[DT-NZ]

Morning... overnight min 8.9 C out - currently 11.4 C out - blue skies overhead with scattered cloud and a fresh SW... a cooler morning here in the north... though, not as cold as the central NI.

[DT-NZ]

Thank's for your report Drew take care.

[Andrew Massie]

Brrr! Feels like back to winter! Last night had 9 degrees outside, with a windchill of -2! And a dewpoint of -0.5!

[Razor]

I guess the horse has bolted but I would have expected to see a new thread out of this lot! All the best to the people affected, I hope farmers had time to get their stock down, etc

This seems to be some event!

[Manukau heads obs]

there was a new thread started, but Nev decided that was not a good idea
so, yes, this is a big event alright
the prediction this was likely to occur was discussed alot at the weather meet here on saturday....so I guess its really not news to the NI weather guys on the forum!

[Tornado Tim]

there was a new thread started, but Nev decided that was not a good idea
so, yes, this is a big event alright

Why on earth does this happen all the time, shifting threads, deleting them, and yet when it comes to archive time we cant look back on it because we wont know what the thread name was called.
Just a note to the mod's (this issue was discussed at the weather meet): If a mod thinks about shifting an entire thread or a post can we please get a PM before you carry out the work so we can explain ourselves why the post is where it is.
I am not dissing the mods, It would just be nice if we got some warning whats going on.

Anyway back on the topic,
Just north Wairoa has a road warning because of the snow.
I have attached a Road warning map from AA, the website is great to check out on the road conditions.
http://maps.aa.co.nz/traffic/roadwatch

[Tornado Tim]

Happy Birthday Andrew!

[Andrew Massie]

Hey Tim! Thanks!

[Michael]

Still condensation on the south facing windows.wont go even after wiping!

[Razor]

Yes I agree.

For the sake of future searchability of stories, etc it would be great to search out topics based on the actual event.

Its clearly beyond "general october weather" that seems a major misnomer!