Thunderstorms, SI to Lower NI 17th January, 2013

[Razor]

Its somewhat of a fluke that major storms are hitting both Wellinton and Canterbury simultaneously

[kiwisk8er]

Lightning and thunder here in Tawa some off near the Hutt, the rest is over us right now.

[carrot]

Heavy hail!!

[spike_01]

Getting ripped off here in the hills.. Only the one flash..

[Razor]

Yup hail here in town now

[carrot]

Brief hail... lol. Just a 1 minute shower. Still looking dark to the SW.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Thunderstorm just gone through.
Sudden stop in the lightning/thunder.
No hail but the usual heavy rain and a wind squall from the west.

[Manukau heads obs]

Cool
We about to intercept,on way north

[Razor]

Cool
We about to intercept,on way north

You are certainly getting a couple of show's laid on for your trip mate

[Orion]

Cool
We about to intercept,on way north

Happy travels!

[kiwisk8er]

There was a lot of thunder and lightning here in Tawa for about 20 minutes. Can see patches of blue skies now. There's some thunder still over the Hutt way.

Was interesting to watch the planes dodging the lightning on their approach to land at the airport.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Very cold here now, down to 7.8C. might have to light the fire later. brrrrr.
More dark stuff to the SW and in TC.
No more lightning now,might be too cold.

[mikestormchaser]

Had some hail in rolleston before to with flashes of lightning and thunder.. werent right under the core though, i think John, you would of got the brunt of that. Still a big heavy looking cell down south, might be some more to come yet.
Just went for a drive down south, not to far as havent had to yet.. sitting near springston pretty much and watched that 2nd cell move in, was very thundery looking, but as it came over it died whatever was in there, with just heavy rain.
Thats now gone through and keeping an eye on the next big blotch further south.

[Orion]

Has been quiet for a while here, but just had another clap of thunder. 10.5 deg. Light rain sprinkling down.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Had reports of hailup the road in Bells road but obviously a bit warmer here which melted any potential hail as the rain was very moisturous but not graupally like.
5.5mm fell here in the thunderstormwhich was a good fall

[melja]

14mm here in heavy showers today now up to 61mm for the month so far so not bad for January in Canterbury.
Oh and I have just had to light the fire as 14deg inside is to cold for me

[Chris Raine]

Cb Showers around North Otago , one light shower in Oamaru at 3pm otherwise fine & windy (SW). Spherics on radio , actvity appears to be north over the Waitaki. Light snow visible on tops of kakanui's

[Storm Struck]

I could hear the thunder booms from work near Cust today and that was even when it was near Rakaia, interesting that activity did flare up and still is given how cold it is and the cloud cover but i guess mid summer thats what you expect with such cold air.
Interesting to note the area in which these deeper cells are flaring up and then dying down just before the city, im thinking this area will shift north in a chain line overnight so there could well be further activity possibly until about 11pm atleast.

[dogmelon]

There certainly is a thunderstorm avoidance zone set up over chc. They're so good at skirting the city now. Is there any scientific reason for this mr metservice?

[mikestormchaser]

There certainly is a thunderstorm avoidance zone set up over chc. They're so good at skirting the city now. Is there any scientific reason for this mr metservice?

The thing i beleive is dogmelon is the fact its Southerly, often with teh southerly the activity going more inland and will skip the city, the SW is best for Christchurch, correct me if im wrong please and SE in chch can be shelterd by BP i might be muddled up with my facts so anyone correct me

[Storm Struck]

The way i look at it if its W-SW activity will veer offshore down near Oamaru and well away from the coast like yesterday except it went more SW once it hit the ocean.
SW it pushes activity over from the W-SW and offshore up the coast to the peninnsula.
S-SW is like today it channels on land up the island sometimes chaining through in small channels and often missing the city.
Southerly it moves through anywhere regardless of landscape possibly blocking areas.
SE is the blocking feature for the city with the peninnsula there.

The ideal wind set up is southerly or S-SW.

[dogmelon]

Thank you for the explainations Mike and S-Struck, they are most interesting. The heavy showers that have been coming through have been a bit entertaining at least with welcome water.

[Manukau heads obs]

The chain shower lines are from wind convergence
I.e rivers of wind...running stronger further east,over the water
But slower nearer the land
The city is often on east side of that convergence line
In a SW wind like today (that line is setup by the omaru /dunedin area)

[Dean.]

One of the better thunderstorms in this area today in a while,pity I had to work!

[LittleTreeHouse]

We had a good show in southbridge tonight, just before midnight. Power is still out, looks like it will be out a while!