Active Front / Gale NW'ers - Sept 10-13

[mikestormchaser]

well its taken me a long time to post but that was the most intense wind storm I have ever experienced, I have never been through such strong winds before.. out in Rolleston id say the gusts were around 140km/h and an average wind speed of atleast 90 to 100km/h was quite scarey at times, windows were bowing in and out, and at times I thought they may have blowen in.
As for the lightning.. saw heaps of flashes to the west last night, more so around 10pm and constant serpherics on the am station.
Around midnight we got a thunderstorm rumble through with moderate to heavy burst of rain, but the wind had eased off by then, to bad I couldn't post while all this was happening as we also lost power.

[seej]

A few snaps of the 38 year old pittosporum that is on a mad lean along the back fence, its quite hard to tell in the photo though.
A corokia took the brunt as you can see in the second shot.

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Would be good to see a few more native trees down Christchurch ways, they are severely lacking. But they're a lot tougher against the wind than gum trees and macrocarpas, that's for sure!

[Tornado Tim]

Still looking positive for storms on the front Tomorrow
CAPE,Lift and moisture all there

[NZstorm]

Still looking positive for storms on the front Tomorrow
CAPE,Lift and moisture all there

Instability not great though Tim. But lots of moisture/lift so a good soaking today.

The cold trough coming into the North Island tomorrow night could be worth watching. See how it shapes up on the gfs next 24hrs.

[Manukau heads obs]

peaked here just as the worst of the rain started, at 115kmh gusts
but thats normal here for a spring NWer

[David]

peaked here just as the worst of the rain started, at 115kmh gusts
but thats normal here for a spring NWer

Wow! And in the central/eastern suburbs it's only been gusting to 30 km/h this morning

[jamie]

only 60km/h gusts here today. Little less than the 66 yesterday. Like brian said though, thats very normal. October tends to be our best month for winds, usually getting into the 80's.

[NZstorm]

I see the Met Service have a severe thunderstorm watch up for the north. Its to cover the risk localised downpours.

Does look like we should get some decent showers in the front.

Brian, I was thinking you would get some good gusts this morning out your way. Actually calm here atm!

[Manukau heads obs]

I have gone in land to my brothers place...only light winds here

ps, problem with my rain gauge...when it rains...a broken reed switch i think

ps, amazing damage reports from parts of eastern SI ..some place got hit real hard alright

[ben g]

Only very light breeze here, light to moderate rain all morning. Home and light the fire, although its a balmy 15 deg

[Vertigo]

Crazy rain gradient going on along the front right now
Not often you see the blue poking through the yellow like that, intense high precip front.

[jamie]

this rain doesnt look much on radar but its actually quite a soaking heavy rain at times. 25mm so far. Probably another 10 to come?

[seej]

Any more rain on the way for west Auckland guys? It stopped an hour ago here...

[David]

Any more rain on the way for west Auckland guys? It stopped an hour ago here...

Looks like it cleared up way earlier than expected

[seej]

Any more rain on the way for west Auckland guys? It stopped an hour ago here...

Looks like it cleared up way earlier than expected

Yeah looks like it's all over rover for thunderstorms for Auckland, west Auckland at least, unless we get a blue sky clearance for some convection, but I doubt that..though it has surprised me before

[jamie]

Still pouring with rain here!

Update: And still going. Up to 40mm since the rain started before dawn. Interestingly it hasnt be constant. Its been on off. But when its on its heavy.

[seej]

Looks to be something interesting coming in from the northwest towards Auckland.

[einzack]

ended up with 74mm of rain on Wednesday in reefton. so a fair bit, but not record breaking.
now that I am back in town, reports are that the thunderstorm overnight Tuesday was one of the best experienced in many years.
I'll ask round for pics, and a crane was struck by lightning here at work. I have been told that there is video of that, so we'll see.

lightning also took out Vodafone mobile and broadband services - hence why my website hasn't been updated for a bit, and we currently have no eta on fixing it...

[Richard]

Power back half hour ago,there's little damage in the area between Waikari and the Hurunui River,Culverden north is a mess.
Ended up with 28mm of rain and probably the most thunder and lightning ive seen over 12 hour period.

[ben g]

Looking more hopeful on radar that akl might get one last down pour.

[seej]

Looking more hopeful on radar that akl might get one last down pour.

yeah, here's hoping eh..the air has that very very humid feel to it..

[seej]

don't speak too soon tvnz... http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/aucklan ... rm-5581331

[Nev]

MS lifted their T-Storm Watch for the upper N.I. a little while ago.

Had some pretty strong gusts in the wee hours here this morn and some fairly blustery downpours today - 27mm from the front today.

[Manukau heads obs]

driving around the waiuku district, lots of local body elections signs blew over in the brief gale we had here on the west coast this morning

[jamie]

Getting another heavy lot of rain now. Up to 49mm since it started drizzling at 2am. Looks like its developing over us and to our NW so maybe crack 60mm before this is over.