Thunderstorms South Island 16/1/2013

[Richard]

sounds great alright Chris,can see that cloud you are talking about too Orion

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Cloud forms sortofmoving this way.
Could be a gustfront later on. Still NE here and clear skies.
Sfericals now being heard but light.
Nice moon out there too to the west.

[Orion]

Just seen a great flickering of lightning in what must be the cloud off Ashburton, to my east or ESE.

[Powermad]

This cell

[Chris Raine]

That looks like our 6pm cell . The radar shows it leaving us and tracking over the seas east of Ashburton . Rain now eased here , but the cell that has just past us will follow the one seen by Powermad and I see another behind it on the Kakanui's to follow yet again . Got about 11mm in 30 minutes here

[Orion]

Another bright flash of lightning on my SE horizon.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

This gusty front looking thing now looks weak but there are one or 2 "Fists" in TC and other parts of the sky over there. Lower NE stratus moving across here as well.

[Manukau heads obs]

Gone for a drive,In tai tapu
Seen some flashes on way here

[mikestormchaser]

Actually theres two seperate storms out there, one behind the birdlings one.
The birdlings flat one seems to be dieing on the radar,but theres two cells that have poped up over mt somers area and look to be heading straight towards us, that could be interesting..?

[Orion]

Have seen several lightning flashes to my SE, one coinciding with a brief bit of static on the phone I was using at the time.
So I've hung up

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Hearing distant thunder noises long after flashes.

[Manukau heads obs]

Yes, i can see a cb more inland ,against the moonlight

[joecam]

Might go for a drive tonight ......might see you in my travels Brian.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

The light with the cloud looks like something like moonsonal in the tropics.
more lightning observed to the south of TC
Sadly the wet stuff is in the Canterbury Bight rather than over the land

[Tornado Tim]

Those storms are producing mostly CC/IC lightning as the networks arnt picking up anything CG related.

[Manukau heads obs]

Come back now
Stuffed after driving all the way from Dunedin

[Skywatcher]

Drove out to Coopers Lagoon getting there at 10:15 and saw quite a lot of lightning from the first cell on the way including a few CGs but it was dying by the time I got the camera set up. Second one wasn't as close but managed to get some shots from it which I'll process tomorrow. Lightning was becoming a lot less frequent and a fresh E had picked up so I headed home at 11:30.

[Lacertae]

I tried my luck out Greenpark Sands and brought a good 3 dozens of shots. I'm loading them now, will proces and post a handful of them right away.
All in all it was well worth going out, especially if it was - like me - your first night time storm chasing !

Drove out to Coopers Lagoon getting there at 10:15 and saw quite a lot of lightning from the first cell on the way including a few CGs but it was dying by the time I got the camera set up. Second one wasn't as close but managed to get some shots from it which I'll process tomorrow. Lightning was becoming a lot less frequent and a fresh E had picked up so I headed home at 11:30.

I intended to go to Coopers too initially, would have been fun to meet you there !

[Lacertae]

While I try to decide which shots to keep or not, could someone tell me what's this cloud structure all about ? On a series of 4 shots it shows a real inflow/outflow of air, but nothing "above".

DSC_4089_nzwf.JPG

DSC_4093_nzwf.JPG

[Powermad]

Win for me, too. Got some excellent lightning shots.

[Lacertae]

Sorry if I only post 3 shots but I've been up since 5:30am and I really need a good sleep ...
For once I have indulged in resizing the shots to a decent size, if you have a small monitor resolution it could be a lil' too big to fit (and I'm not sorry ).

[Lacertae]

Win for me, too. Got some excellent lightning shots.

Where were you, down Birdlings ? I'd love to see what it was like down there.

[carrot]

Cool photos!

[Skywatcher]

Great shots Ben. I initially stopped on Davidsons Rd not far from Greenpark Sands before deciding to go to the coast.

Stayed up and processed the best ones I got - all from the second cell...

[Storm Struck]

I was at Birdlings for awhile some nice distant lightning,but there was a few mid level clouds in the way so most of the lightning was just flashes except for one good CG.
A line of CU moved over with some spots of rain but still remained E-NE there and it still was in the city coming home too.
Amazing shots ben glad someone captured it all.