Easter Weather

[Manukau heads obs]

I wondered why my rain graph line was so steady
the outlet was full of sand from the last SW gale
and so the rain was only dripping out slowly
I lost a bit when I took the cover off
so we got over 100mm here in total

[Manukau heads obs]

Ricky has had some big jumps in temperature at times today (up and down)
with mixing of different airmasses through the atmosphere going on!

[jamie]

Just got to taupo and there no power here. Trees down all over the show and even been where they have fallen on cars with people in them

[Orion]

That weather system has been ferocious; I hope nobody's been hurt. Travel safely.

[Manukau heads obs]

not surprised about the strong winds through the central NI when you see how tightly packed the isobars were on the weather map through that area
the mountain ranges to the south would have helped to create the wind tunneling effect (like they do for the NW wind to the south of them)

[jamie]

Well highway to rototorua is still shut with hundreds of trees down. Can't get to the farm for morning milking.

Power came back on then went off again last night. Not sure when it came back on as I was asleep. Herd there might not be power in rural areas until midday.

[Nev]

Methinks a 'brickbat' for Stuff...

'Mini tornado' as strong winds, rain batter country - Stuff
'Mini tornado' hits Waikato amid slips, flooding - Stuff
Mini tornado causes damage near Picton - Newstalk ZB

And a 'bouquet' for the NZ Herald...

Wild weather system 'worse than Bola'
By Paul Harper and Hayden Donnell
5:05 PM Tuesday Apr 26, 2011

..."Wind bursts" have torn roofs off houses in Picton and Te Awamutu as high winds and heavy rains continue to lash the country.

...The roofs of three houses in the Picton suburb of Waikawa have been blown off by what the fire service described as a "small tornado". Emergency services were called by a resident whose house was damaged by strong winds described as a tornado at about 10am. Fire Service southern communications spokesman John Goodliffe said fire crews found three roofs had been blown off houses into neighbouring properties. They worked together with builders and police to waterproof the houses with tarpaulins, he said.

Similar "mini tornadoes" were also witnessed tearing up trees in Te Awamutu, but MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said they were actually "wind gusts". "Strong winds from the southeast are rare, and gusts of around 120 km/h are strong enough to damage trees and power lines, especially about the central North Island forests," he said. "These gusts come to the ground in bursts - that's what they do. They've got the potential to take roofs off houses and cause damage." Mr McDavitt said there are no thunderstorms, which are required for tornadoes, in the current system.

(full story)

P.S. I know Easter is officially over but, given the ongoing effects of this low pressure system, perhaps it's easier to just extend this thread by a day or two?

[tgsnoopy]

The Herald still used the Mini term

[Tornado Tim]

I agree with Bob, yesterday i doubt it would have been a tornado in Te Awamutu.

Occluded front passing over me right now giving out some light rain.

[Orion]

0.6 degrees and a clear sky, stars showing, at the moment.
(The Easter season lasts for 50 days, till Pentecost; the "Feast of Easter" for eight days, till next Sunday. A liturgical term, not meteorological. Hope everyone is having a happy Easter. )

[Dale]

Lenticulars & nasty winds this morning north of the Grey.. watching the conctete power pole out the front move a good half a foot or so in all directions.. have given up on picking up the patio furniture, its somewhere near the front fence right now.

Crikey!

[Manukau heads obs]

weather map does show tightly packed lee trough isobars across the southern alps , with the front being in cook straight now!

[Dale]

Yer, I know all about the Norwesters they get in Christchurch but this is my first taste of it on the other side of the alps.. damn nasty I must say.

[Michael]

Drizzly calm here.Front must be close.Maybe this should be split up to SE flow over NI topic as easters long past.

[Manukau heads obs]

have just had an unexpected westerly wind change
but I see the city has been NW all day
so the front has moved south of here now
still easterly in Waiuku though

[jamie]

To give you an idea of how bad the wind damage is down there. the farms i was working on are on both sides of the road at this point. they are not expecting power for a couple more days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJc1_i9RSSQ

[Tornado Tim]

Good vid Jamie,

I remember those forestry areas quite well, thats really bad damage to those trees!

[Manukau heads obs]

I wonder if the trees suffer from a domino effect, with the trees pushing against each other
the other problem is they are planted very close to each other, to get tall slender poles...and so the trunks are thin...tall and spindly...and easily snapped off
amazing to see the damage, thanks Jamie

[jamie]

yea your right about the domino effect there Brian,

here is the spot i drove through but as some of it happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4yfj-OC9hI

there seems to be heaps of damage around for winds that were not that extreme really. we get stronger westerlies every couple of months. maybe it was that it was a SE wind so blowing against the way trees are toughened so there fore more easily broken.

[iomkiwi]

Looks like the trees that have blown over are beside a recently harvested area, maybe they couldn't take the wind from a direction that they had always been sheltered from before.

[Michael]

Its probably the direction ie we get SW(my situation as example) they blow pine needles,free radicals(spring) etc but I seen the odd NW like the one in september,because its an unusual direction maybe the stress of being bent in a way not used to so they snap.

[borris89]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxsjTnqfeCw

A video flying over my friends farm out at Ocean Beach in Hawkes Bay after the rain there recently. Big clean up ahead i would imagine.