TC Wilma affecting N.I. - Jan 28-29

[NZstorm]

Yes, amazing animation.

The Met Service AWS in the Bay of Islands got 236mm in 12hrs! The AWS out on Whanpora Peninsula North Auckland recorded 149mm. I see Warkworth total 154mm. It seems the further north and east you were the more rain you go. Auckland city with just 86mm.

[Manukau heads obs]

Auckland city with just 86mm

Howick area got over 110mm!
http://www.shellypark.co.nz/
to illustrate the further east and north meant more rain alright...even small distances!

all the barometer traces in the Auckland area show a sharp little dip in the barometer just as Wilma went by

I see Mangawai is up to 332mm for Jan!
might be some records broken for wettest Jan?

[RWood]

Nev your comment regarding cyclones wasn't necessary really at the end of the day was it. I always think it's best to be helpful in a positive kind of way when required

Huh, not sure what you mean? I simply pointed out that Fergus and Drena were ex-TC's, whereas this one was apparently still intact, which means this is most likely the closest an intact TC has ever come to NZ.

Perfectly reasonable comment! Unlike some of the more extremely hypercritical ones about MetService that some on this forum are fond of making...

What about Giselle Nev? (re intactness on reaching NZ - just wondered).

[Michael]

Wasnt giselle extra tropical even when it was off the Bay of plenty the day before ie the 9th of april

[Willoughby]

...and the unnamed severe "'cyclone of '36" that battered Northland/Auckland.

[David]

Auckland city with just 86mm

Howick area got over 110mm!
http://www.shellypark.co.nz/
to illustrate the further east and north meant more rain alright...even small distances!

Yep, 121 mm here. Most of our rain fell between 8pm and 4am, with 105 mm in that 8 hour period
MTD now on 254.2mm, must be the one of the wettest January's on record here! The SWer certainly is tame compared to what I was expecting...actually it's WSW

[cantygal]

My bad, sorry Nev. I thought you had a hidden agenda instead of the facts. Thanks

[littleheaven]

Got up at 2.30am and rain was at 81mm, and pressure down to 996.7. Now back to 1002.8 and rising. Rain peaked out at 96.3mm. Now sunny with a fresh breeze. Glad it went over quickly as we have a large stormwater catchment pipe in the bush behind our house that I wouldn't fancy overflowing across the property.

[Brassnz]

Total rainfall here for 24hrs to 9am 29/1/11 was 72mm. Lower out West as expected. Another heavy shower passing thru at present. Winds seem to be backing off.

[bmo]

Pressure: 1005.2hpa
Temp: 23
Rain: 78mm
Wind: 11.2km/h
Gusts: 40.1km/h
Humidity: 95%
Cloudy and raining at present strong winds from the South

[Philip Duncan]

Nev was Bola a T. cyclone? My memory seems to think it wasn't?

[GraemeWi]

75mm total here so far in Henderson (Waitakere), barometer did a very sharp dip to 998 just on 4 am

[jamie]

wind is really picking up. constantly gusting over 60km/h now.

[bmo]

Pressure during the night

[Michael]

My 1988 book ...Far from complete shows it as TC on 5/3/88 wheres the 6 march has it a 985 low also it was the 1st tc of the season,the centre stayed to the north of the NI before moving SE.

Nev was Bola a T. cyclone? My memory seems to think it wasn't?

[David]

Here are some graphs comparing the rain totals for the last 2 rain events for Howick...

total_rainfall_event1jan2011.png

total_rainfall_event2jan2011.png

edited to make their formatting the same
Unfortunately my site is down today...

[NZstorm]

Interesting charts David. Last weekends event had higher intensity rain in Auckland.

[iomkiwi]

I got 199.4mm in 17 hours, 344mm for the month so far. Definitely my stations wettest January, in fact it is my wettest month ever since I started in late 2007, don't know whether it is officially the wettest Jan though.

[Philip Duncan]

My 1988 book ...Far from complete shows it as TC on 5/3/88 wheres the 6 march has it a 985 low also it was the 1st tc of the season,the centre stayed to the north of the NI before moving SE.

Nev was Bola a T. cyclone? My memory seems to think it wasn't?

Thanks Michael, appreciate that

[RODALCO]

Bola was a TC.
It hang around Auckland for about 1 week, strong winds and lots of rain end also caused also extensive damage and floodings at the East Coast. Especially Gisborne and Wairoa were badly affected.
I was truck driver at that time and going across the harbor Bridge was pretty scary.

[Nev]

Re Giselle and Bola, both had transitioned into extratropical storms well before they reached NZ.

Suggested reading:
How often is New Zealand hit by tropical cyclones? - NIWA
Wahine disaster - Wikipedia
Severe Tropical Cyclone Bola - Wikipedia


Had some minor flooding here, but quite a few major slips, blocked roads, etc around Waiheke.
Great surf though.

[RODALCO]

I worked overnight checking sump pumps in local substations in Auckland which couldn't cope with the rain.
A few photo's from a flooded live 11kV substation on the North Shore, near Devonport.
Leaves clogged up the sump pump hence the water pushed the floorboards out.
The electrical HV connections were luckily not affected as they are about 1 meter above floor level.

[Dale]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10703015

Nice plug for the forum in this mornings herald.. *chuckles @ Brian*

[Manukau heads obs]

OMG, double quotes, is so intense, what does it mean???

The Metservice's online weather warning system appeared to fail on Friday night, with no updates on Cyclone Wilma's progress for about an hour.

Weather enthusiasts took to the internet to vent their frustrations.

On weatherforum.org.nz, one person wrote: "It's pretty poor really. I have seen this happen several times now."

At 10.40pm, Brian Hamilton wrote: "Does M/S realise that they have no warnings for the last 40 minutes now? Did someone hit the delete button? The cleaner maybe?"

Reissues of previous warnings came on an hour later.

A MetService spokesman blamed a technical fault.

[Lacertae]

Technical fault, technical fault ... that's a very lame excuse !