General March Weather

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 31/03/2013 14:28

Whenuapai sounding for 00Z.

200j/kg CAPE there.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 31/03/2013 15:39

Apparently there was a tornado in Hokitika city at 12:30pm, today, according to media reports?

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Sun 31/03/2013 15:54

Heavy showers across West Auckland last couple of hrs. Some thunderstorm activity over Northland. Dewpoint here is 19.6C, temp 23C

Photo of Cb over north Auckland

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Sun 31/03/2013 15:56

Easter greetings, all - "Christos anesti"
Another mild day here;
rain obscuring the foothills to my north, from Mt Somers to Mt Hutt, a brief sprinkle of light rain falling here now and the air very fragrant with that 'rain coming' smell.
Observed Surrey Hills and the folds of terrain thereon - the south-facing slopes green and the rest all golden-brown, a noticeable contrast.
22.5 degrees.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 31/03/2013 16:00

Yes. Looking a bit bleak towards TC at the moment from here.

ben g · Unread post by **ben g** » Sun 31/03/2013 16:00

Looking south from the north shore just now

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1364698834.270011.jpg

melja · Unread post by **melja** » Sun 31/03/2013 16:10

Sure is a wild day on the coast, staying at the batch and big squally showers have been coming in off the ocean since about midnight, would say it was a water spout that came in off the sea in hoki.
Did think to myself that today looks like good tornado weather so turned our wind turbine off to avoid any damage as they seem common over here in this weather setup, had one flatten a pine forest a few hundred meters from here a while back.
Sky clearing a little now but the gusty NWer is really picking up, 18deg and 49mm from midnight.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 16:41

Trough has passed over us. We got 3 spits. It's really developed heaps since moving over us.

By far the best convection we have had all summer.

Nev · Unread post by **Nev** » Sun 31/03/2013 16:47

TVNZ have some footage of a waterspout apparently from around Hokitika at about 12:30pm this arvo...

'Tornado rips through West Coast town'

And a few more details of the damage in the town of Hokitika from Stuff...

'Tornado rips through Hokitika'

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:01

thunder to my east now. dam! this is really blowing up and dropping rain but we missed it all.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:04

Lots of thunder now and a big funnel cloud. Didn't have my phone and race to get it to get a photo but it was mostly gone by then.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:24

Fairly decent storm now. Got up to 35 strikes per min.

Dale · Unread post by **Dale** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:26

Perfect setup today for spouts & tornados.. yep, one went through Hoki, near dodged another on just here before also. Was always on the cards from first light this morning.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:29

I think this has a decent Hail core looking at right now. Big light shaft in the middle of the darkest part.

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:29

Some interesting weather about the country for a change,neat photo Ben&spwill

Warm day here with 25deg,may it last a bit longer.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:42

Awesome. Just watched a pulsating CG directly to my east with a 11 second wait for thunder.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:46

Looks like a good storm there Jamie why are you not chasing it?

Interesting to note the belt of showers that crossed near Mt Sommers and headed SE towards the Peninnsula before, the clouds were not too exciting but certainly some weak CU tops there for awhile.
There must be lighter winds or a wee southerly that snuck in further south while this fresh gusty N-NW continues here, although it has dropped abit now that will change overnight as another strengthening NW gets going.
Top of 25C today cant complain at all.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 17:52

Storm Struck wrote:Looks like a good storm there Jamie why are you not chasing it?

have visitors for Easter so stuck at home sadly.

really blowing out some cold core air which is a sign of a decaying storm.

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Sun 31/03/2013 18:05

jamie wrote:
Storm Struck wrote:Looks like a good storm there Jamie why are you not chasing it?
really blowing out some cold core air which is a sign of a decaying storm.

Yes, the lightning also is very weak according to Blitzortung and that isnt a good sign either.

Visually there is some good saturated inflow, but atm nothing fantastic.

spwill · Unread post by **spwill** » Sun 31/03/2013 18:25

Good to see that waterspout footage from the West Coast.

Photo shower line over West Ak early afternoon

seej · Unread post by **seej** » Sun 31/03/2013 18:42

I don't know if it's correct to measure rain fall amounts like this, but I just measured the water height in our flat bottomed, leaf, wheel barrow (which was empty before it rained) and it has been filled by 20cm of rain. I'm not sure what that would translate too in mm per hour? The rain was torrential though for about 50 mins and it rained all up for about 2 hours.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 31/03/2013 18:43

Wikid hit had 10mm from that. Was pretty heavy. Would have run off the hills but soaked into the flats. Awesome!

littleheaven · Unread post by **littleheaven** » Sun 31/03/2013 19:04

Brief heavy shower in Glenfield but now just spotty drizzle. The ground beneath my parent's house is so dry that the front wall has subsided leaving large cracks around several window frames and wallpaper ripped where the join in the gib has moved.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 31/03/2013 19:09

I see a number of spots in west Auckland got 25mm!

A lack of upper flow plus a lack of upper level forcing meant thunder was very isolated.

Pic cb north of Auckland this afternoon.

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Sun 31/03/2013 19:12

Here is a few shots of the inflow structure to the thundershowers on the trough.
One of note has a rather large inflow tail.

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