Trough Much of NI and Eastern SI, 4th February

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Mon 04/02/2013 18:53

A very unthunderstormic day it was today, despite the forecast, but mind you, thunderstorm warnings are only a risk, not that actual thunderstorms will happen.

A welcome return to some rain rather than having these warm dry days of recent.
Some good falls and on the way home from work around 4:30pm, the rain was just thundering down that hard , at the corner of WeedonsRoss Road and Jones Road that I had to put my windscreen wipers onto double speed, so I could see

Haven't seen rain like that, here,for ages. On checking the Rakaia radar, when I got home, I found it was rather small but quite intense. Wasn't that intense here at home checking on my raingauge, however.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Mon 04/02/2013 19:00

melja wrote:While we need the rain I do believe Chch had about normal rain last month and out here in Rangiora I think we had around 60-70mm so while its dry its just normal summer dry and nothing on what the guys in the north are having to put up with.
Good spring growth has now burnt off making it look much worse than normal but I guess the silly ones that try and run a dairy farm on land that sould only ever have sheep on will find it tough.

Yeah but one thing that is different we dont see too often is the fact that most of the region as a whole is on an extreme fire risk, the rain from last month has pretty much dried up by now and has had no great benefits for new growth especailly around the city where water tables have shifted or sunk.

kiwisk8er · Unread post by **kiwisk8er** » Mon 04/02/2013 19:38

Heavy rain in Tawa for most of the day. Lost sky connection a couple of times. We're also hearing rumbles of thunder every now and then tonight.

CHCH Weather Chaser · Mon 04/02/2013 19:42

Storm Struck wrote:
melja wrote:While we need the rain I do believe Chch had about normal rain last month and out here in Rangiora I think we had around 60-70mm so while its dry its just normal summer dry and nothing on what the guys in the north are having to put up with.
Good spring growth has now burnt off making it look much worse than normal but I guess the silly ones that try and run a dairy farm on land that sould only ever have sheep on will find it tough.
Yeah but one thing that is different we dont see too often is the fact that most of the region as a whole is on an extreme fire risk, the rain from last month has pretty much dried up by now and has had no great benefits for new growth especailly around the city where water tables have shifted or sunk.

Rainfall may have been about normal but the sunshine hours were a record for CHCH and we have had about 10 days reach 30+ this summer. Also, most of that rain fell quickly in one or two events that were only a day long. None of that soaking drizzle that really helps absorb the water.

Anyways back to today and this band is really lacking the punch. Just misty drizzle falling. Models overplayed it. Hopefully some chain showers through the nice.

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Mon 04/02/2013 19:50

The watch is now lifted

Im not so sure about our thunder risks now overnight......... once again another risk bust.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Mon 04/02/2013 19:53

Tornado Tim wrote:The watch is now lifted

Im not so sure about our thunder risks now overnight......... once again another risk bust.

Yea I realized it was weak as soon as it appeared on radar. Just never looked to have any punch.

I need to go check my station. I've recorded half of what u have Tim and I know we just had more than 5 mm just by how heavy and long it went on for

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Mon 04/02/2013 20:52

Strong southerly breeze rushing through presently, and a jolly 11.0 degrees.
Overcast, rain.

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Mon 04/02/2013 20:55

jamie wrote: I need to go check my station. I've recorded half of what u have Tim and I know we just had more than 5 mm just by how heavy and long it went on for

I have a suspicion that a spider has nested in your rain cone. I had a rather scary encounter a few weeks ago when I took off the rain cone for station maintenance and the beginnings of a large ant nest was developing.
They were promptly evicted, LOL.

I will be installing a FARS within a few weeks to confirm if Matangi has local microclimate.

Updated Outlook:

CHART AMENDED TO REDUCE RISK IN THE WEST OF THE NORTH ISLAND AND EAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND...

The rain band associated with the very warm moist air currently lies from just west of Coromandel Peninsula to Taupo. This is expected to lie over central Bay of Plenty at midnight. There is a moderate risk of thunderstorms embedded in this rain band with rainfall rates to25mm/hr and possible localised wind gusts to 100km/hr.

There is also a moderate to high risk of thunderstorms from north Taranaki to the Kapiti Coast through to midnight with similar conditions.

Meanwhile the southerly change will move from about Kaikoura to Wellington and south Wairarapa by midnight. Again, there is a moderate risk of thunderstorms on the change with simiular weather as above but with small hail as well.

Elsewhere over the North Island, the thunderstorms risk is low and elsewhere over the South Island, no significant convection is expected. A front is forecast to cross the South Island today and the North Island tonight or during Tuesday. This front is preceded by a warm, humid northerly flow bringing rain to much of the country, with some heavy falls, as per the latest Severe Weather Warning and Watch. The front is followed by a strong, colder southerly flow.

Manukau heads obs · Mon 04/02/2013 21:48

5mm or so here (and similar for Ricky)
which is pretty much what I was telling farmers around here all too expect, originaly
so not much in the end, and certainly not worth any watch or severe prospects
the first band was briefly heavy

would have been disapointed if we had not had the rain earlier in the day (which was much more than expected and not forecasted (alot of people recorded around 50mm)

potential for a bit more rain tomorrow with the southerly change

looks like wellington/cook straight area getting a thunderstorm though

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Mon 04/02/2013 22:54

Manukau heads obs wrote: looks like wellington/cook straight area getting a thunderstorm though

Yes looks like the lower North Island is getting a good storm

Around 18.2mm so far today, hopefully we will get some more showers overnight and tomorrow afternoon with the southerly change.

At the current ET rates (on a warm sunny clear day), the amount of rain we just had will only cover about 1 week.....

GreggWard · Unread post by **GreggWard** » Mon 04/02/2013 23:14

Tornado Tim wrote: Yes looks like the lower North Island is getting a good storm

Yes Tim, just had a thunderstorm pass over in the last 15mins with torrential rain. Inter-cloud lightning every couple of minutes. The lightning seemed to have a pinkish hue to it.

We haven't had rain here for a couple of weeks and I think a spider has gone in an spun its web within my rain gauge tipping bucket, as it didn't even register one drop from that storm and from earlier showers.

GreggWard · Unread post by **GreggWard** » Mon 04/02/2013 23:22

I tell you what, that NZAPStrike Map was pretty spot on with the locations of the lightning strikes that I saw as the storm was approaching.

GreggWard · Unread post by **GreggWard** » Tue 05/02/2013 00:02

Just have another thunderstorm passing over now with lightning flashing a couple of times per minute.

borris89 · Unread post by **borris89** » Tue 05/02/2013 00:19

Can see that lightning from Hawkes Bay down near Palmerston North.

Manukau heads obs · Tue 05/02/2013 06:41

SW wind change arrived here early, 5am
only 17C now
another 7mm, which is good

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Tue 05/02/2013 06:55

The system delivered 20mm,just enough to of short term benefit

BeaconHill · Unread post by **BeaconHill** » Tue 05/02/2013 07:14

48mm in Wellington out by the airport in total from the system in under 24 hours so far. Sounds like northern parts of town got a lot more.

Southerly change kicked in MUCH stronger than forecast, with some solid gusts from 2 am onwards. That and the high humidity prior to the wind change made for a ratty nights sleep!!!

kiwisk8er · Unread post by **kiwisk8er** » Tue 05/02/2013 07:21

We had heavy rain here last night in Tawa. The pump under our house stopped working and our basement flooded with 3 - 4 cm of water.

snowstormwatcher · Unread post by **snowstormwatcher** » Tue 05/02/2013 07:23

A good coating of snow on the mountains around Fairlie this morning. A cool 4 degrees currently with a mix of cloud and sunshine.

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Tue 05/02/2013 07:41

29mm rainfall from that event here.

Nev · Unread post by **Nev** » Tue 05/02/2013 07:53

11.3mm in total here so far.

Manukau heads obs · Tue 05/02/2013 08:14

Waiuku got the most again...they got alot more last night on the main front, and again this morning...
taking the total for the 2 days to around 75mm!

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Tue 05/02/2013 08:57

GreggWard wrote: We haven't had rain here for a couple of weeks and I think a spider has gone in an spun its web within my rain gauge tipping bucket, as it didn't even register one drop from that storm and from earlier showers.

I thought i had the same problem with my gauge only recording half of what every other online station recorded but after just checking there was nothing more than the normal small webs, nothing blocking anything.

Im beginning to wonder if in fact it recorded correctly and we just didnt have as much but from experience it seems had more than was recorded.

Weather Watcher · Unread post by **Weather Watcher** » Tue 05/02/2013 09:04

BeaconHill wrote:48mm in Wellington out by the airport in total from the system in under 24 hours so far. Sounds like northern parts of town got a lot more.

91mm in my gauge in Upper Hutt.

David · Unread post by **David** » Tue 05/02/2013 09:04

Nev wrote:11.3mm in total here so far.

We can be disappointed together

Only 15mm here.

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