Big Antarctic Low 16-23rd September 2010

[Michael]

That depression the isobars south of Invercargill were spaced out much more than over N.Z Especially when they are more southerly.

[Philip Duncan]

Yep - thats exactly my point - they aren't like tropical storms. The worst winds were actually over NZ. But in saying that, gusts to 200km/h would've been possible out on the open waters.

[trickytiger]

Just got really windy and cold in Timaru with rain wind is whistling quite loud at times and windows rattling away with it

[Philip Duncan]

front is just hitting you now trickytiger

[Weetbicks]

Is the brunt of this front going to head out east to sea & miss Christchurch? The radar seems to indicate that it is?

[Avalanche]

Yea was just wondering that how far north will this front go phil . Is there gonna be more snow for central an lower north islands to low levels tonight or is it gonna headout to sea an miss the lower north island?

[Tornado Tim]

Is the brunt of this front going to head out east to sea & miss Christchurch? The radar seems to indicate that it is?

You should see flashes to your east and to your NW.
I have attached the WWLLN Lightning map for your convenience:

[Storm Struck]

It should edge its way up weetbicks, it was quite deep development at 10pm over south canterbury.
I dont know if the tracker is right but its started picking up a few strikes in the area to the south, i guess the 11pm radar will tell us.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

..dosen't look like much, sadly

JohnGaul
NZThS

[Philip Duncan]

think its more of a west coast event once you get north of Oamaru

[drew]

Normanby tuning in.... lots of bright flashes in the sky and loud rumbles and bangs afterwards. Not the usual "across the sky" lightning but much more "flash bulb" type stuff in a small sector of the sky. Very bright and white.

Couldnt get more technical if I tried LOL

Very windy with squally showers...

Drew

[NZstorm]

Last night when I looked, about 9pm, the dewpoint at Hokitika was 9C and the dp at Chrstchurch 0C. Both locations had 500mb temperature of -30C. But the 0C dps over Canterbury make convection impossible where as the 9C dp on the West Coast is a highly unstable number in an airmass that cold. The surface dewpoint temperature is one of the best ways to get a quick measure of convective potential in a given airmass.

[Manukau heads obs]

shower activity not as much up this way,should still get a shower with the wind change...can see a line moving towards me on the rain radar...
clear out to my west currently
Westely averaging 38 knots here...
Taranaki got a good line oc CB's through by the looks of the sat map

front going through here now,,,gusts to 57 knots (105kmh)
tomorrow will be a week of gales here....worst period of gales since the el nino years of the early 90's?

[Michael]

worst period of gales since the el nino years of the early 90's?
May 2002 or 03? october 2005?

[spwill]

Thankfully we miss much of the wind here that you get around the Manakau Harbour, I dislike windy weather.

Milder this morning, currently 13C, dewpoint 9C. Days ahead look much warmer for NZ.

[David]

Much lighter winds today now that it's turned WNW again, thankfully. 2 of our small (less than 2m) trees down the back just about blew over yesterday, but the fence stopped them. The sodden soil didn't help them stay upright either..

[Dale]

Just as windy up here as it has been since friday.. howling house shaking stuff.. if it was going to lift the roof 4am this morning would have done it. Sure built this place stong when they did. Lots of small branch & tree damage between here & Pukke this morning, even the old long drop dunny at the end of my street didnt hold up, lost its roof & one side of it has caved in.. bit of a shame, its an icon for those that live along here

[Manukau heads obs]

getting gusts to 56 knots here now from the west!
the waitakere ranges shelter auckland city from the westerly wind
Auckland airport is averaging 30, gusting 40 knots at the moment...they are exposed to the west there

[Dale]

Yeah that last squall that just came through was borderline friday night stuff, I dont know if its the orientation of this house or now but I swore I could see little precip vortices dancing around the front verandah (which faces in a westerly direction).. pretty cool to see but in the end closed the blinds incase the windows blew in.

[Manukau heads obs]

barometer starting to rise here now....worst is over I think, wind has eased a bit...but rain radar shows 1 more shower line still...that might ramp things up a bit more again

[Dale]

Mmm.. hope so, im getting a little tired of it all now lol.
Really must invest in a wx station up here, I did apply in the ad for the new Pukke one but the guy in Puni ended up setting it up.. oh, and a wind turbine up here too!

[Manukau heads obs]

squall line just to my south...heading your way Dale...should move onto me soon...wind building again...this is the main front i suspect

[Dale]

Yep, near whiteout conditions here right now, even the farmer has bailed home, hes over it all lol
{ED:} Wow.. this ones really intense, even got some small splatters of hail & enough to knock out the sky..

[Manukau heads obs]

just watched the tail end charly going past me to the south 1 km away!
I might still get 1 shower on the end of the line..

[Dale]

Heh, spoken like a true chaser / enthusiast.
Now I can see again, the high stuff looks to gone over with that front.. just a lot of low crappus dribbling through (albeit quickly) so hoping its all over red rover for now.. this place is a mess after near a week of nuts winds, surprised all my parrots have held up now were coming into breeding season.