Thunderstorms/Hail, Eastern SI Lower North 2-4th Oct!!

[kiwisk8er]

Here in Tawa, Wellington we've had two short hail showers this afternoon.

[Lacertae]

Interesting looking radar at 4:30pm !

[matttbs]

Just had a mental hail storm, 25mm hail

Interesting report. Where did this occur? HInds? Radar doesn't show anything significant around this time.

Paul

Inland of mayfield, 310m ASL. Sorry I keep forgetting to change my location on here. Now having light groupel shower.

[Razor]

Am 200m up Huntsbury Hill, currently sleet falling

[Storm Struck]

Chased the mid canterbury cell which flared up near waimak gorge with some meaty CGs, some of which are on camera.
A mix of sleet and soft hail slightly bigger than pea so 10mm.
Currently in Oxford asessing more potential cells further south, looks like a trough around Timaru.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Lots of sfericals on the AM radio this afternoon but nothing much from here, and here.
The TC did look rather dark but then it cleared away moving to the NE.
The Blitz not picking anything from here but maybe the lightning was all in the cloud or their indicators don't pick anything up from Canterbury?

[Richard]

Been blowing NW all day here but in the last half hour there's some reasonable looking buildups to the SW,dont have much hopes though.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Probably a result of remnants from these cells moving east.
Skies looking quite 'flat' now with these cloud forms, maybe because the day is getting on now.
Probably a lovely fine day tomorrow?

[Tornado Tim]

The Blitz not picking anything from here but maybe the lightning was all in the cloud or their indicators don't pick anything up from Canterbury?

There would have been a few good CG's coming from those storms today. However, there is only 1 station that operates in a 24 hour status in the South Island.
Since New Zealand airmass storms produce rather weak Lightning strikes in terms of amplitude, they dont travel that far in terms of the VLF spectrum.
More Stations need to be setup down in the South Island for the detection rates to increase.

When the Omarama detector come's back on-line (im not sure when, even if it will again), the South Island will be better covered as the Wellington Station should be able to pick up stuff in the South Island.

[Dale]

Due to an unfortunate accident here on Tuesday, I have been in Christchurch Hospital since then, caught the shuttle bus back this afternoon & was very happy to see some meaty looking storms just to the south of Sheffield as we started the climb up the alps. Also good to see 20cm of settled snow in Arthurs Pass and at 5pmish, it was still teeming down in big flakes. Thought of you guys & hoped someone was in on the action today, it will be a while before I am again heh.

[jamie]

I know I'm South Island but we Just had one very bright flash then a massive rumble about a minute later. Must have been a positive cg discharge.

[Tornado Tim]

Just had one very bright flash then a massive rumble about a minute later. Must have been a positive cg discharge.

I thought I heard an extended rumble...
Radar shows a convective line coming in.....

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

There would have been a few good CG's coming from those storms today. However, there is only 1 station that operates in a 24 hour status in the South Island.
Since New Zealand airmass storms produce rather weak Lightning strikes in terms of amplitude, they dont travel that far in terms of the VLF spectrum.
More Stations need to be setup down in the South Island for the detection rates to increase.

When the Omarama detector come's back on-line (im not sure when, even if it will again), the South Island will be better covered as the Wellington Station should be able to pick up stuff in the South Island.

Thanks for that, Tim
...also I say thank you for you guys that set up the "Blitz" and have it free to access.

[jamie]

And then just had the hail.

More showers laced with hail now.

[jamie]

Sorry I am hijacking the thread here. MS did a poor job with the forecast. We have had ferocious hail and thunder showers all night. No mention of hail or thunder in the forecast. We are right on the edge of the low risk in their outlook. As a result we never put our calves in the centre of the farm for protection. They were beside the road. I just hope we have had enough thunder in the past 4 weeks that they are no longer running wild with every flash. Otherwise we may be searching for calves once daylight.

[NZstorm]

We have had ferocious hail and thunder showers all night.

Insane shear would of helped the clouds to generate a bit of lightning. 95knots at 500mb!

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Some weak low level Cb forms to the north possibly the Oxford area, and some glaciation in the TC area.
I thought I'd mention this.
Might head your way, Richard?

[Tornado Tim]

Nice little notch on this shower over the Karipiro Area atm.

[Tornado Tim]

Hearing a few rumbles now

[Richard]

Some weak low level Cb forms to the north possibly the Oxford area, and some glaciation in the TC area.
I thought I'd mention this.
Might head your way, Richard?

Looked black John,but nothing came of it.

[Storm Struck]

Yesterday was quite a sucessful chase day really, although the Mid Canterbury cell that was initially active around 3pm towards Mt Peel area actually dropped off in activity for quite some time.
It wasnt until about 5pm around the Waimak Gorge that it really flared up, but what was interesting was that the cells were active inland against the foothills instead of being coastal like MS and myself thought it might be.
This meant the convergence of the W-NW was actually further inland, with coastal NE breezes and lighter variable winds inland on the plains.
However the cells down in Timaru at night which drifted up the east coast were more coastal.
The cell that hit Timaru around 6:30pm, actually went offshore died down then brewed up big time offshore from about Ashburton where it sped up with lots of sporadic lightning.
We ended up going back out around 8:30pm to Birdlings Flat to catch the show or the cell, but it died by the time we got there.
Here's some lightning stills ive managed to get so far, the others took some good photos which i am sure will be up in the coming days.
I just vidoed as the others were taking photos.
Maybe round two of Thunderstorms and Hail on Monday afternoon/evening through Mid Canterbury

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[Orion]

Glad you had some successes

[cbm]

Nice little notch on this shower over the Karipiro Area atm.

I think that red area went right over the Leamington half of Cambridge. Best hail shower I've seen at home. Grabbed the camera quickly.

http://youtu.be/MgM_bHbHKJo

Someone was talking on these forums recently about how a hail shaft can bring down a shaft of cold air, that can give a few snow flakes to places that almost never see them. Didn't see any but sure felt cold when I opened the door, felt like about only about 2 or 3C, then with in a minute or so was back to feeling similar to what it's been like all day, 9 to 12C

[Manukau heads obs]

I dont think we got any hail here ...did anyone in Auckland notice any?

[Orion]

Thanks for your video, cbm: it sure looked cold!