Canterbury Thunderstorms - 14th December 2009

[mattyj46]

Great photos and updates everyone, very interesting reading over the last few days.

[Weetbicks]

Yeah Aaron! Nice one mate

[03Stormchaser]

Saw the clip on the news, I see they mostly chose video that I shot!!

[DT-NZ]

A quick note to say that the NZWF CANTERBURY STORMCHASERS and the NZWF STORMCHASERS weather guys ground crew around NZ are AWESOME, I have said this before and I am going to say it again, you all are this country's best of the best!!!! STORMCHASERS and you all are collectively what make the NZWF a very special place.

I was inspired (fired up) by the STORMCHASING dedication and spirit each of you bought into this event from that important first LEAD in when John posted his message here on the NZWF and the subsequent lead up/followup to and of the actual event - chase day.

Your dedication to capture, record, severe, extreme and significant weather event's in New Zealand is an inspiration for the rest of us to follow - and I hope you feel really proud of what you do and bring to us, because I am *smiles* , thanks

[Tornado Tim]

YAY, I saw ya Aaron on TVNZ News
Nice footage Stephen....

[Thunder]

Hey I shot some of that video footage to. lol....

We hadn't even seen the video yet since we took (still haven't watched it!) it so was cool to watch, I find the "mean sky" and "severe thunderstorm warning now in place" comments quite funny but cool! I can't remember saying those things exactly but adds to the drama, well what drama there is....

Rather pleased with that.....

[Tornado Tim]

My apologies Aaron, LOL
it looked like all of the footage was in HD, good stuff!

[03Stormchaser]

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/canterb ... 4442/video

[David]

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/canterb ... 4442/video

Thanks for that, I was watching TV3 news and didn't see anything about the storm covered by them.
Those crops sure have taken a nasty beating

[Andrew Massie]

Congrats guys! Just been speaking to Aaron, I'm starting a new thread to ask for expressions of interest in a non-profit organisation based in Canterbury for weather enthusiasts. Council funding and we may be able to get our own weather radar. Keep eyes peeled!

[mikestormchaser]

Well done Aaron i saw you on news mate and you do us all proud!

[Storm Struck]

A quick note to say that the NZWF CANTERBURY STORMCHASERS and the NZWF STORMCHASERS weather guys ground crew around NZ are AWESOME, I have said this before and I am going to say it again, you all are this country's best of the best!!!! STORMCHASERS and you all are collectively what make the NZWF a very special place.

I was inspired (fired up) by the STORMCHASING dedication and spirit each of you bought into this event from that important first LEAD in when John posted his message here on the NZWF and the subsequent lead up/followup to and of the actual event - chase day.

Your dedication to capture, record, severe, extreme and significant weather event's in New Zealand is an inspiration for the rest of us to follow - and I hope you feel really proud of what you do and bring to us, because I am *smiles* , thanks

Yes and dedication it was after driving through very heavy rain/surface flooding on the road and marlbe sized hail pounding against the window.
Also close lightning blinks overhead and slowing my speed down from 100kmh to 60kmh because of the poor visability just to get good photos of the hail on the other side of the cell/ now thats dedication.
I think i am getting more rough when it comes to chasing now, as in i dont back off or be cautious ive just got to get those magic photo shots or video footage.

[Manukau heads obs]

great TV footage there Aaron on TV1
was a nice surprise when I saw it

[jrj]

Thunderstorm in Hawke's Bay coinciding with 3pm radar
8.5mm in 15 minutes at Havelock North.

[Michael]

Its unusual arnt these winds getting over the urerweras? You getting more rain in these conditions than Auckland,weird.

Thunderstorm in Hawke's Bay coinciding with 3pm radar
8.5mm in 15 minutes at Havelock North.

[Lacertae]

Last "update" for the t-storm on last Monday, a three and a half minutes long video with the footage of the build-up, the 2nd funnel cloud and the hail.
It's about 85MB and you'll need Quicktime to view it (.mov). It's still uploading and should be available around 5:30pm.
Enjoy !

http://alpha-nz.net/IC/waddington.mov

[spwill]

Lacertae, where and what time did you see that funnel cloud.

Those Canterbury rivers are a nuisance for storm chasing, wanted to go NE with the storm at Darfield but it was chase over due to the Waimakariri.

[Lacertae]

Just south of Waddington (near Sheffield) and it happened at about 2:30pm.

[Nev]

Confirmation of a damaging tornado in Methven on Monday...

'Twister slices through farm' - Ashburton Guardian

[Manukau heads obs]

is that the same location as where the funnel cloud was photographed by the forum members, or is it a different nado?

[Nev]

Methven's about 40km WSW of Waddington. Shame they don't give a time.

[Weather Watcher]

From radar observations, the Methven tornado is separate to the funnel cloud Lacertae photographed near Waddington, and was much more substantial. The radar showed a quite a good hook echo on the large severe storm that originated near Geraldine/Temuka and passed near Methven. This is the storm MetService had the warning out for. I've been waiting (actually hoping!) for a report of a tornado near Methven to confirm what the radar was indicating, so thanks for that Nev (and many thanks to the Ashburton Guardian for the story).

[Thunder]

Do you have a time Weather Watcher as to when you think it may have occured? What a sight that would've been to see that.

Agreed on the rivers Spwill, that can be frustrating at times!

We considered going Methven way at one point and were about 20-15km from the Rakaia Gorge before turning back, guess that's the luck of the draw...Sigh....

My Dad has a T-stick + laptop so if I haven't got anything going by next time I'll pop and and grab his on the way, we typically head south and he lives in Templeton so that should be good. It might make the difference.

Cheers
Aaron

[Weather Watcher]

Do you have a time Weather Watcher as to when you think it may have occurred?

I'll give you some more info this afternoon - I'm not at work at present.

[Thunder]

Sounds good, thanks!