Squalls and Thunder, Western parts of both Islands 9-10 July

[bmo]

Incoming thunderstorm here looking great! Some nice flashes from it. Hope it is going this way...looking at i would say it wont...again.

[Manukau heads obs]

good CB about to hit auckland city
heaps of lightning;but it is weakening as it moves inland...3:30am...the wind woke me up...53 knots...

[ricky]

Looked great coming in and just watched sky tower being hit strong wind gusts here, 73km/h and a temp drop from 14 to 10 degrees, big Baro jump too!

[Manukau heads obs]

glad I am not the only weather nut awake at 3:30am on a winters sunday morning, LOL

[Vertigo]

weather nut and weather nut girlfriend reporting in very significant storm that one, but seems to have moved on now.

[David]

yay - finally a thunderstorm! 3 flashes and booms in Howick, then nothing more. Must have been dying though as rain was light and wind not that strong. why do the storms seem to die so fast once they move off the west coast and onto land?

[NZstorm]

Got woken by thunder. Could only catch a little bit of lightning.

[Manukau heads obs]

why do the storms seem to die so fast once they move off the west coast and onto land?

one factor will be that the sea teperature is around 16C
whereas the ground temperature is only around 11C

[NZstorm]

why do the storms seem to die so fast once they move off the west coast and onto land?

Inland Waikato got a heap of lightning which suggests the sst weren't that important. I think the 11C dewpoint was the number providing the instability for the front. Nice to be woken by a storm.

[Orion]

Vicious squalls roaring through down over here .. too dangerous out there for photos, will sort that out in the morning.
Provided the winds haven't blown me out of the country

Hope you came through ok and no serious damage in your area.

[jamie]

By far the best thunder days since the ones in a row in Jan 2010. Getting yet another storm rumble through right now. Last night was brilliant. have hardly slept at all. Had thunder for most of the night. good gust to 77km/h. Had some of the best hail i have ever seen here in terms of size too.

[Manukau heads obs]

intense but small CB has just passed over port waikato...

[NZstorm]

Yes, can see that cb, and tracker shows its lightning active.

[Dale]

Have survived the night down here, just.
The little shed miraculously stood up to it all but the new swimming pool across the road wasn't so lucky, all the guttering along 1 side of the building has been ripped off and is flapping in the squalls.. going to be some mighty peeved off owners when they find out lol. Neighbour has had a couple of windows blown in, hes out there boarding them up in between thunder/hailsqualls and as I mentioned last night, all the big potplants are splayed out in all directions around the yard. Absolutely no letup in the winds, these are honestly the most ferocious I have come across yet in the 3 and a half years i've been back here.

The gauge says 30mm in the 24 hours to 9am but thats incorrect, we've had WAY more than that but it has a hard time picking up sideways rain

And just now, another hailsquall... very grainy pea sized stuff.
Good to see you guys in AKL getting in on a bit of the action lol!

[Tornado Tim]

Last night was awesome, and Like Jamie I am tired now, LOL

Over 4000 strokes since midnight here or over 2000 flashes of lightning.

[GreggWard]

I too got woken several times during the night by lightning and thunder. I agree with Jamie, it was certainly one of the most active thunderstorm day/nights, in a while.

I must say, the Metservice got it pretty bang on, regarding the tracks and timings of their severe thunderstorm warnings over the Manawatu, last night.

[GreggWard]

77ba-1310d5fafc0-36ee80-1310d6aac40.0.png

Based on the attached warning map, from last night, the storm that was moving in more of NE direction, appeared to be the most lightning active of the storm cells. Does the fact that it was moving in a different direction to the other cells i.e. NE as opposed to E -> SE, indicate that it was more of an intense/organised storm, which sort of pushed it against the general wind flow?

[Manukau heads obs]

a mesocyclone (rotating thunderstorm) goes against the general flow
they are right movers in the northern hemisphere, so will be left movers in the southern hemisphere

[Tornado Tim]

Did the news channels Broadcast the Thunderstorm Warning?

I know 3 news didnt, pathetic!

Whats the point of MS making a warning out for a storm and the new agents dont broadcast it!

[GreggWard]

a mesocyclone (rotating thunderstorm) goes against the general flow
they are right movers in the northern hemisphere, so will be left movers in the southern hemisphere

Thanks Brian.

[David]

Metservice has a moderate risk for the north tomorrow evening/night Being woken by another storm would be fine by me

[jamie]

77ba-1310d5fafc0-36ee80-1310d6aac40.0.png

Based on the attached warning map, from last night, the storm that was moving in more of NE direction, appeared to be the most lightning active of the storm cells. Does the fact that it was moving in a different direction to the other cells i.e. NE as opposed to E -> SE, indicate that it was more of an intense/organised storm, which sort of pushed it against the general wind flow?

Oh good point. I didnt see that warning map. Quite possibly was rotating just like th right movers in the northern hemisphere

[jamie]

Oh more thunder! wasnt expecting anymore today. yippie!

[Tornado Tim]

Yay Thunder

I have made a page for the Sat images for archival purposes:
http://wx-matangi.dyndns.org/Weather/wx ... 0-2011.php

Notice how the CB's seemed to beef up over land?

[bmo]

Lost power at 3.30am had 30 minutes of intense rain and thunder plus heavy hail.
Got power back just a few minutes ago. some trees have broken branches but nothing more.
Max wind was 67.9kmh