Ross Tornado & West Coast Hail - May 12

[Manukau heads obs]

reports of a Tornado on the west coast of the SI today (Ross)

[Nev]

2 tornadoes apparently - the one at Ross, south of Hokitika, and one at Rutherglen about 10 km south of Greymouth.

'Tornadoes swirl as wild weather lashes parts of NZ' - TVNZ

[Lunar2]

[facebook]https://m.facebook.com/coastersclub/[/facebook]

I don't know how to share photos but theres one been shared on this Facebook page. Just beautiful!

[Nev]

[facebook]https://m.facebook.com/coastersclub/[/facebook]

I don't know how to share photos but theres one been shared on this Facebook page. Just beautiful!

Hi Lunar2. The 'facebook' tool is for posting videos only. Tips on posting images can be found here.

I've uploaded that image below for posterity, along with a snippet of the photographers description...

'Wild weather brings tornado and disrupts flights, sailings' - Stuff

Earlier, a tornado was photographed near Ross on the West Coast at about 4pm on Thursday.

Sam Wanrooy, of Kumara, had just stopped working a bulldozer because of a breakdown when the tornado headed his way.

"Jo, the digger driver, was watching it out at sea for around 10 to 15 minutes," the 24-year-old said.

"We watched it come up off the sea and I saw trees falling in front of it but we figured it would stop, since it was about two kilometres from our location.

"Then it came even closer, taking out mobs of ducks and that's when Jo took shelter in the digger and I watched from the gold screen.

"It took out more trees about 30 metres from us and broke a few windows in the work utes. It also blew a 2000-litre water tank off its stand, which was full and anchored down. Wind and rain was coming from all directions. As soon as it passed, it was dead quiet, with just trees still breaking in the background."

[Manukau heads obs]

that is an impressive tornado

[03Stormchaser]

Video of yesterdays Tornado just played on Newshub, weirdly they refer to it as a giant tornado. Are the days of 'mini' tornadoes gone...

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Are the days of 'mini' tornadoes gone...

Not here in NZ if "Stuff" have their ways

[Nev]

Video of yesterdays Tornado just played on Newshub, weirdly they refer to it as a giant tornado. Are the days of 'mini' tornadoes gone...

Thought a link might be helpful…

'Video: Tornado touches down on West Coast' - Newshub

[Manukau heads obs]

ah, so the first photo was it just coming off the sea...as a water spout
which makes it looks even more impressive
great video showing the condensation cloud at ground level where the vortex is touching the ground

[NZstorm]

Great that there was someone there to record it.

The weather is now about to change for the North Island with an active trough/thunder due in the west on Monday and again Wednesday.

[Manukau heads obs]

does anyone have a rain radar image of when that tornado struck on the west coast?

[NZstorm]

I pulled up the gfs sounding for the West Coast tornado.
The gfs sounding doesn't show the surface easterly you get along the West Coast. The easterly generates surface vorticity which the cb interacts with to produce the waterspouts.

[Nev]

does anyone have a rain radar image of when that tornado struck on the west coast?

Only have this image about 1:15 hrs before that MS posted on Twitter.

MetService Westland Radar - May 12, .jpg

However, there was also a reportedly golf ball to tennis ball sized 30-minute hailstorm that rained down at about 3.15pm at Pukekura, south of Ross.

And unconfirmed reports of two smaller twisters at Rutherglen, just South of Greymouth, one that afternoon and another overnight.

'Tornadoes, huge hailstones as Coast clobbered' - Otago Daily Times

[Thunder081]

does anyone have a rain radar image of when that tornado struck on the west coast?

Here's the images between 2:43pm - 4:51pm 12th May 2016

http://i.imgur.com/V5sARiu.gifv

Let me know if there's a specific time you want to see and I'll probably have it.

[Manukau heads obs]

kewl, that animation of the rain radar shows hail alright (white on the scale) in one radar pass on the cell just after it moves inland
very descrete CB line too

[NZstorm]

With hail there needs to be photographic reports to know what actually fell. I think I could believe small golf ball. The shear looked pretty good on the day.

[Nev]

Let me know if there's a specific time you want to see and I'll probably have it.

4pm (04Z) was the reported time of the Ross Tornado.

[Thunder081]

Let me know if there's a specific time you want to see and I'll probably have it.

4pm (04Z) was the reported time of the Ross Tornado.

Here's the 3:58pm one:

2016-05-12-1558.jpg

4:06pm

2016-05-12-1606.jpg

4:13pm

2016-05-12-1613.jpg

4:21pm

2016-05-12-1621.jpg

4:28pm

2016-05-12-1628.jpg

[Nev]

With hail there needs to be photographic reports to know what actually fell. I think I could believe small golf ball. The shear looked pretty good on the day.

Here's a couple of pics from the Pukekura Hailstorm posted on Facebook…

Pukekura Hail #1 on May 12 by Kate WilsonLittle.jpg

Pukekura Hail #2 on May 12 by Kate WilsonLittle.jpg

[Manukau heads obs]

amazing
very localised/descrete CB on the rain radar
is Pukekura where that hail signature is on the rain radar?

[Storm Struck]

That would of been one fast moving supercell to produce hail of that size on the coast, something you would normally see in Canterbury not the west coast with a lack of open plains.
But i guess if ingrediants are there at the time and local valley winds combining onshore and upper level, anything is possible.

Mondays short wave due through eastern South Island looks like producing a thunderstorm/hail set up now, initially it wasnt showing much but the last 24 hours surface models seem to be in agreement.

[Nev]

amazing
very localised/descrete CB on the rain radar
is Pukekura where that hail signature is on the rain radar?

I think so.
I've marked Pukekura on this close-up of the earlier image (approaching small cell just above arrow)…

MetService Westland Radar CU - May 12, 0243z.png

[Manukau heads obs]

ah, that cell...there is another good looking cell further north and out to sea
where is Ross on that map? (where the nado came ashore)

[Nev]

Ross is about halfway between Pukekura and Hokitika. The tornado was a little north of Ross near the Totara River.

[Manukau heads obs]

so where that HK word is on the rain radar...so it would have been that middle CB coming in?