December 13th thunder/hail E/South Island!!

Lacertae · Unread post by **Lacertae** » Sun 13/12/2015 18:29

Richard wrote:Sorry to hear about damaging your car, easy to do when you have ya head out the window looking at clouds

In a nutshell, I was on a straight piece of gravel road, steering wheel held both hands, and suddenly the car went right. Tried to flick it back but caught the edge of a little ditch with the front right wheel, quite a hit. The car was at the garage for servicing and warrant last Thursday, as well as inspection regarding clunky noises on the steering rack or suspensions … not saying it's related, but I don't tend to loose control of my car in straight lines, so … wait and see ...

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Sun 13/12/2015 18:48

This is a great pic of the rope out!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/imag ... 911570.jpg

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Sun 13/12/2015 19:07

Lucky there no injuries, seen some photos on FB of a flipped tractor trailer

Lacertae · Unread post by **Lacertae** » Sun 13/12/2015 19:14

I wonder if we'll get an official rating of the tornado(es) today ?

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Sun 13/12/2015 19:37

Lacertae wrote:I wonder if we'll get an official rating of the tornado(es) today ?

I would doubt it. Attached photo (not mine) taken ten minutes inland of Hinds.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 13/12/2015 19:51

\With the storms today, I was surprised that there wasn't ant tornadoes today, but I see, now, that now there have a been a few.
I was at a local Bagpipe event this afternoon, so had to give up my thunderstorm duties, to take in the swarming sound of bag-pipes, which hindered my thunderstorm observance.
..but I did sneak out and observed a flash or 2 especially around 4:30pm, when the cell that was earlier mentioned in Met Services earlier severe thunderstorm watch, float over the house in a long steak of lightning extending from west to east. a nice roll of thunder followed about 5 seconds later followed by a nice sound of "Dump" thunder at the end.
...then back to the bagpipes.

mikestormchaser · Unread post by **mikestormchaser** » Sun 13/12/2015 20:30

still big hail drifts in my garden at home, some of the newly planted flowers and hydrainga's have taken a beating not to mention our vege garden, tomatoes stripped and potatoes with big holes in the leaves.
Great storm set up for canterbury though! about time! fortunately i have an amazing gf who did all our xmas shopping while i went out and chased storms! as today really was only my next free day to do the shopping!! what a keeper

Lacertae · Unread post by **Lacertae** » Sun 13/12/2015 21:28

An image of the core of the first cell which dropped a funnel while I was driving towards it. A gigantic line of trees prevented me from having a clear view for a photo and had to carry on until I was able to take this shot. The funnel was long gone by then, but the rotation in the whole thing was still fairly obvious.

DSC_7820_resize_nzwf.JPG

The same thing a few minutes later, side on, near the bridge over the Rakaia on SH1.

DSC_7826_resize_nzwf.JPG

Lacertae · Unread post by **Lacertae** » Sun 13/12/2015 21:43

10 - 15min before that first cell started dropping rain on me

mikestormchaser · Unread post by **mikestormchaser** » Sun 13/12/2015 22:10

Lacertae wrote:10 - 15min before that first cell started dropping rain on me

Your second image there Ben was what Steve, jase and I were watching when i phone called you.It was the back end flank witch had some good up draft structure on it. And we too thought something onmious about it

Thunder · Unread post by **Thunder** » Sun 13/12/2015 22:54

I had bad luck and pretty much got nothing any good! I saw that line coming up from the south and was waiting for it to come up but it had already dropped that tornado (perhaps landspout?) so I missed it. I was really tired from a wedding the night before and didn't want to venture too far.

Sorry to hear about your wheel there Ben, there will always be next time

Ferngrower · Unread post by **Ferngrower** » Sun 13/12/2015 23:52

Couldn't stray to far today as was on call for work, but found a good clear vantage between Lincoln and Tai Tapu.
Took around 3000 shots and managed to capture 1 CG from the first cell before it got too wet. 17mm here to refresh the garden - and only small hail.

CG1.jpg

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Mon 14/12/2015 06:28

Capturing lightning in Canterbury is tough work! Well done

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Mon 14/12/2015 06:35

Thunder wrote:I had bad luck and pretty much got nothing any good! I saw that line coming up from the south and was waiting for it to come up but it had already dropped that tornado (perhaps landspout?)

I thought the same when I first started seeing photos of it. The more I saw and heard tho tho more a leaned towards tornado.

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Mon 14/12/2015 07:13

Well done on the lightning photos.

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Mon 14/12/2015 07:49

Yesterday was the first time i'd heard the creak of lightning before being so close to where it hit,and you know it was close because the boom was only half a second behind made, we made sure that we stayed in the car just to be safe.

It was great to drive to a storm but i just wish we could get a storm in this area, worked out its been nearly two years since the last time we had a storm here apart from a few distant rumbles.

trickytiger · Unread post by **trickytiger** » Mon 14/12/2015 07:57

Had a bit of a storm driving down south yesterday, some lightning and a bit of hail but hardly anything compared to what we got at home. Wish I had of gone down in the morning to be back for the storms here, would of probably seen a tornado then too...

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Mon 14/12/2015 08:26

Recorded 35.2mm of precipitation at my station yesterday - about 15mm would be hail melt. From 13:15, 10mm rain fell in about 15 minutes peaking at 79mm/h.

Just the one decent video still taken from Highfield Rd (12km NW of Rolleston).

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Mon 14/12/2015 08:32

Now that is a great photo, its like its saying 'oops wrong way'

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Mon 14/12/2015 10:01

A few minutes before the storm arrived, my attention was drawn to how suddenly intense was the scent from my Christmas tree and the roses in a vase - something to do with ionisation of the air? - it wasn't the ozone "fresh" smell you get after a storm, just very strong fragrance.

Skywatcher · Unread post by **Skywatcher** » Mon 14/12/2015 10:14

A few stills from the dashcam. No hail in the first image 1.5km SW of my house.

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Mon 14/12/2015 20:12

Orion wrote:A few minutes before the storm arrived, my attention was drawn to how suddenly intense was the scent from my Christmas tree and the roses in a vase - something to do with ionisation of the air? - it wasn't the ozone "fresh" smell you get after a storm, just very strong fragrance.

Further to my observation above: it's not the first time someone's observed it, apparently:
Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
Jean Paul Richter (1763 — 1825)

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Tue 15/12/2015 05:32

Interesting Orion

something ive never noticed

moylanr · Unread post by **moylanr** » Tue 15/12/2015 12:09

Orion wrote:
Orion wrote:A few minutes before the storm arrived, my attention was drawn to how suddenly intense was the scent from my Christmas tree and the roses in a vase - something to do with ionisation of the air? - it wasn't the ozone "fresh" smell you get after a storm, just very strong fragrance.
Further to my observation above: it's not the first time someone's observed it, apparently:
Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
Jean Paul Richter (1763 — 1825)

We were at WIllowbank in the kiwi house. Just before we heard the thunder, the kiwis started calling out. I wondered what had started them off (made them easy to find).

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Tue 15/12/2015 21:05

Ashburton Guardian Article on the Tornado

http://www.guardianonline.co.nz/news/la ... for-cover/

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