Cold Weather on the way plus good sub antartic storm brewing

[jamie]

Best set up for ski fields in a long time is it?

[Dean.]

Just a dusting for Mt Hutt

[tich]

snowing on and off all morning since 5am, not much settling, d big sleet/hail downpour just passed

Squalls passing over Lake Taupo, looking at timelapse webcam - spectacular (hail) squall over southern parts of lake at 2.57pm

[RichyDunedin]

A couple photos from Brockville, Dunedin as of 4.30pm. As you can see dark stormy snow showers continuing in the hill suburbs. No snow settled at sea level anymore.

[RichyDunedin]

Metservice dunedin forecast has both a high and low forecast of 4 degrees today.

The air pressure of the low to the southeast of NZ is incredibly low, how common is a low that intense in the Southern Ocean?

[Manukau heads obs]

you don't see much below 945
I see M/S have it drawn as 944 by midnight tonight
that's a beast

[RichyDunedin]

Yea it certainly looks impressive as do the swells created by it. I wonder what conditions would occur if it moved over NZ rather then offshore.

[Storm Struck]

A beast alright and feeding off a decent high over Australia too, in some ways its a pitty it couldnt come closer although id imagine a low of that size would cause a fair disruption to much of the country in terms of snow, thunderstorms, and severe winds.
Sometimes after such big systems we get a week or two of settled weather, but there's more fronts and lows waiting in the pipeline.

The coastal showers this morning were short lived must of been a clipping from one of the troughs, the port hills had a dusting although gone by late afternoon.

[Richard]

Haven't heard how much rain fall about the drought effected areas from this system,only got 3mm here.

[trickytiger]

Haven't heard how much rain fall about the drought effected areas from this system,only got 3mm here.

got about the same here in culverden as well 3.05mm

[Bradley]

Interesting that Tony on Blueskies has the minimum temperature for tonight down to -3C yet Metservice only going for around 2-3C, you don't normally see such a difference in opinion!

[TonyT]

Interesting that Tony on Blueskies has the minimum temperature for tonight down to -3C yet Metservice only going for around 2-3C, you don't normally see such a difference in opinion!

No, thats for tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Tonight's one has disappeard off the site with the evening update, but it was +1 or 0 I think.

[Manukau heads obs]

I see that reports that Arrowtown was the biggest dump of snow in 30 years

We have missed the cold air here , currently 11C, but have had a couple of hail showers all the same
edit: latest hail shower has dropped the temperature below 10C here now

[Bradley]

Interesting that Tony on Blueskies has the minimum temperature for tonight down to -3C yet Metservice only going for around 2-3C, you don't normally see such a difference in opinion!

No, thats for tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Tonight's one has disappeard off the site with the evening update, but it was +1 or 0 I think.

Thanks for clarifying that Tony. Hard question but in your opinion is Christchurch a chance on Thursday morning to get down to around -5C? seems the setup is perfect for some extreme minimum temps?

[TonyT]

Hard question but in your opinion is Christchurch a chance on Thursday morning to get down to around -5C? seems the setup is perfect for some extreme minimum temps?

In a word, yes.

[Bradley]

Thanks Tony

[Tornado Tim]

Is it just me or do these articles: http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/l ... land-today make me want to smack my head against a brick wall?

Honestly there is no need for them, just an attempt to get some attention! I heard Richard Green talking to the host at Radio live this arvo around 5 and then that headline came up in convo, Richard asked who the headline came from, to which the host didnt know but then Richard started feeding the story.
Looks like his Days at WW are still left in his head.

Anyway: Showers still going this evening with a cool 6 degrees.
Frost on the cards coming shortly as the ridge starts to move in from the Tasman trapping some residual cooler air.

Waikato's temps possibly dipping down to -1 or so.

[Flutterbye]

well, I see reports of 30cm snow at Arrowtown overnight

Yes and great pictures as a result.

[Flutterbye]

Is it just me or do these articles: http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/l ... land-today make me want to smack my head against a brick wall?

Honestly there is no need for them, just an attempt to get some attention! I heard Richard Green talking to the host at Radio live this arvo around 5 and then that headline came up in convo, Richard asked who the headline came from, to which the host didnt know but then Richard started feeding the story.
Looks like his Days at WW are still left in his head.

Anyway: Showers still going this evening with a cool 6 degrees.
Frost on the cards coming shortly as the ridge starts to move in from the Tasman trapping some residual cooler air.

Waikato's temps possibly dipping down to -1 or so.

No, it's not just you. I regularly shake my head at some of the stories and the one that's currently annoying me is the maps that keep popping up showing who gets wet/dry etc in whatever wind direction. It comes across as patronising as most people already know that!

[NZstorm]

A report I have from Wanaka is 'biggest snow fall there in several years' 10cm+.

[Nev]

It's certainly an impressive looking low. But yes, I think comparing central pressures in the subtropics with those in the subpolar regions is a bit like comparing apples with oranges - pressure and temperature are relative to each other.

Looking at the low from a different angle…

Southern Hemisphere MSLP chart - May 25, 0000z.jpg

[Manukau heads obs]

that's a neat map
Personally I do not have too much issue with the notion biggest (by size) storm on the planet...gives an idea that hey, no wonder this thing shovelled snow to Hawkes bay sort of thing....but...you are comparing to northern hemisphere that is coming into summer though....

[James J.]

If a story comes from WeatherWatch, I stop reading.....

[RWood]

Is it just me or do these articles: http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/l ... land-today make me want to smack my head against a brick wall?

Honestly there is no need for them, just an attempt to get some attention! I heard Richard Green talking to the host at Radio live this arvo around 5 and then that headline came up in convo, Richard asked who the headline came from, to which the host didnt know but then Richard started feeding the story.
Looks like his Days at WW are still left in his head.

Anyway: Showers still going this evening with a cool 6 degrees.
Frost on the cards coming shortly as the ridge starts to move in from the Tasman trapping some residual cooler air.

Waikato's temps possibly dipping down to -1 or so.

No, it's not just you. I regularly shake my head at some of the stories and the one that's currently annoying me is the maps that keep popping up showing who gets wet/dry etc in whatever wind direction. It comes across as patronising as most people already know that!

I ignore a lot of the hype but disagree re the wind direction maps
I have met probably more than 100 Wgtonians who are clueless about the difference between a basic SW and S flow, let alone the 5 or 6 flavours of "southerly". Understanding the vast difference between overland NNE/NE and NW is even more of a stretch. Some can't even give me a rough wind direction when it's a steady 40 kph

[Richard]

Some can't even give me a rough wind direction when it's a steady 40 kph

That so much sounds like my wife, but she is coming on though,she will notice a storm cloud when one appears.