General July Weather

[NZstorm]

One thing the gfs has been consistent on is a polar jet stream coming into the west of the North Island Friday pm. Instability is deep but weak although we know gfs can under play moisture in these set ups.

Another polar jet in the wind for Sunday, taking a track up east of country perhaps.

[Orion]

Clouds of spindrift visible above the skyline and in the gullies of the foothills. Looks spectacular against the blue sky.

[Nev]

The media seem quick to blame downed trees in Paraparaumu on a 'tornado' early this morning…

'Thunderstorms, 100kmh winds and tornado hit Paraparaumu, north of Wellington' - Stuff

'Snow, lightning ... and a tornado? Wild weather strikes central NZ' - Stuff

[RWood]

Oh Dear!

'Thunderstorms and strong winds - but thankfully no weather bomb' - TVNZ


Shame TVNZ don't have more weather-presenters that actually know something about the weather. Renee appears to be pretty useless in that regard.

Media + weather = idiocy ** 2

Enjoyed 4 days of glorious 28C sunny conditions in Townsville, interrupted by a predicted cloudy day with some light pm rain. Should be back to normal soon. Darwin had one of its very rare overcast July days.

[melja]

Bring it on lol I'm off to cairns and cape tribulation next Saturday for 9 days.

Sent from my Lenovo K50a40 using Tapatalk

[Nev]

Impressive looking 24 hours of CG's as that last very active front moved up the country…

Blitzortung NZ - 24 hrs to Jul 14, 12pm.png

[Tornado Tim]

Getting a little more active this evening I see.

Some nice convective plumage on that front coming into southland

[Tornado Tim]

Metservices comments are interesting regarding early tomorrow morning and Tomorrow afternoon/evening:

Chart updated at 9pm Thursday and the Moderate risk of SEVERE thunderstorms extended north into northwest Nelson, Kapiti and Horowhenua.

An active front is forecast to cross the South Island during Friday morning followed by a colder showery west to southwest flow. There is a moderate to high risk of thunderstorms about coastal Southland, Fiordland and southern Westland before dawn, northern Westland and Buller during the morning and from the Kapiti Coast up to Taranaki and coastal Waitomo late morning. Any thunderstorms are likely to produce localised heavy rain of 10 to 25mm per hour,hail of 5 to 15mm in diameter and strong wind gusts of 90 to 110 km/h.

However, there is a moderate risk that some of these thunderstorms could be SEVERE about Fiordland and southern Westland in the early hours of Friday and in northern Westland, Buller, northwest Nelson and Kapiti later in the morning. These SEVERE thunderstorms could bring damaging wind gusts over 110 km/h and possibly a small coastal tornado. There is also a low risk of SEVERE thunderstorms in the remaining areas later in the morning, as shown on the chart.

There is a broader low risk of thunderstorms extending slightly further east, as indicated on the chart.

No thunderstorms or significant convection expected elsewhere.

756c-155e7fd8700-155ebda4c00-155e8a69cad.gif

Chart updated at 9:10pm Thursday and the risk of SEVERE thunderstorms increased to moderate for Kapiti and Horowhenua.

The active front mentioned above crosses southern and central parts of the North Island during the afternoon and the remainder of the North Island early evening.There is a moderate risk of thunderstorms over western parts of the North Island from the Kapiti Coast up to southern Northland as the front crosses. Any thunderstorms here are likely to produce localised heavy rain of 10 to 25mm per hour, hail of 5 to 15mm in diameter and strong wind gusts of around 100 km/h.However, there is a moderate risk of one or two of these thunderstorms becoming SEVERE about Kapiti and Horowhenua early afternoon. There is also a low risk of SEVERE thunderstorms from Taranaki to the west coast of Waikato during the afternoon. SEVERE thunderstorms could bring damaging wind gusts over 110 km/h and possibly a small coastal tornado.

There is a broader low risk of thunderstorms extending further east across to Bay of Plenty, Taupo and northern Wairarapa as indicated on the chart.

Meanwhile, a colder showery west to southwest flow is expected over the South Island. There is a low risk of thunderstorms about Fiordland and coastal parts of Southland and Clutha during the afternoon and evening and about coastal parts of northern Westland and Buller after dark. There are likely to be heavy showers accompanied by small hail in these areas, with or without thunderstorms.

No thunderstorms or significant convection expected elsewhere.]Chart updated at 9:10pm Thursday and the risk of SEVERE thunderstorms increased to moderate for Kapiti and Horowhenua.

The active front mentioned above crosses southern and central parts of the North Island during the afternoon and the remainder of the North Island early evening.There is a moderate risk of thunderstorms over western parts of the North Island from the Kapiti Coast up to southern Northland as the front crosses. Any thunderstorms here are likely to produce localised heavy rain of 10 to 25mm per hour, hail of 5 to 15mm in diameter and strong wind gusts of around 100 km/h.However, there is a moderate risk of one or two of these thunderstorms becoming SEVERE about Kapiti and Horowhenua early afternoon. There is also a low risk of SEVERE thunderstorms from Taranaki to the west coast of Waikato during the afternoon. SEVERE thunderstorms could bring damaging wind gusts over 110 km/h and possibly a small coastal tornado.

There is a broader low risk of thunderstorms extending further east across to Bay of Plenty, Taupo and northern Wairarapa as indicated on the chart.

Meanwhile, a colder showery west to southwest flow is expected over the South Island. There is a low risk of thunderstorms about Fiordland and coastal parts of Southland and Clutha during the afternoon and evening and about coastal parts of northern Westland and Buller after dark. There are likely to be heavy showers accompanied by small hail in these areas, with or without thunderstorms.

No thunderstorms or significant convection expected elsewhere.

756c-155e7fd8700-155ee6d7a00-155e8acd9fe.gif

[mikestormchaser]

Another polar jet in the wind for Sunday, taking a track up east of country perhaps.

I was just about to mention Sunday up the east coast. Risk of heavy showers /hail Sunday. Tomorrow "Friday " has backed off with thunder chances in coastal Canterbury.

[Richard]

Had 7mm from the first shower, then round 2 once that line of storms that hit the West Coast passes over

[einzack]

Front went through here at about 6:40.
Strong northerly in front followed by an even stronger SW behind it. Temp dropped 8°C and pressure up 7hPa in less than 30mins. Had a bit of rain - I only recorded 1mm, but it certainly sounded like more than that in the dark.
But as of now, wind has died right back and while there's still a bit of cloud to the NE, the sun will be shining shortly it looks like.

[Achten]

Severe winds yesterday evening, took this screen shot of a weather station about 3km down the road, pretty scary with quite a bit of local damage. Clear sky's at the time almost like upper winds were forced down.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Strong cold southerly through, just before 11am.
Nothing much from it part from a few stratus bits.
Did notice a few flashes westward overnight when getting up for a "Johnny Riddle"

[Nev]

Media + weather = idiocy ** 2

You'll love this story written by Yahoo NZ's 25-year-old 'Social and Content Editor', who apparently has a 'Bachelor of Communications Studies Majoring in Journalism'. Below are just a few excerpts…

'Thunderstorms, tornados, heavy winds expected to hit country' - Yahoo NZ

Thunderstorms and mini-tornados are expected to hit parts of the country as the bad weather sets in for Friday and the weekend. …

Severe thunderstorms were detached off the coast of Greymouth on Friday…

Heavy rain and possible is expected to hit Kapiti, Horowhenua, Whanganui and Taranaki.

Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua are told to brace for high winds with small tornados forecast for the region.

[Tornado Tim]

Good Squally frontal storm now hitting Raglan, good Thunder too

[spwill]

Thunder here. Lightning observed to the southwest.

[David]

Distant thunder just heard from Howick

[RWood]

Indeed Nev - a lousy piece of writing that fails badly from a scientific viewpoint as well as from a literary one!

[shovelopikis]

good thunder and lightning activity with the front and squalls on and off., behind the short and sharp front plenty of CG observed, very eventful day, and hail thrown in too.

[Nev]

That front certainly came through here with a hiss and roar at around 4:30pm, but only lasted about 20 minutes… just 1.5mm here.

Here's what 24 hours of CG's to 6pm today looked like…

Blitzortung NZ - 24 hrs to Jul 15, 6pm.png

[spwill]

Torrential rain and strong winds here just now with the 2nd line.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Indeed Nev - a lousy piece of writing that fails badly from a scientific viewpoint as well as from a literary one!

Yes, well that's why I don't read their weather stuff.
....sorry to be off topic, but those Stuff weather news things on the MetService website, are rubbish, probably put there for people who just want to know if it's going to be fine and sunny and see newsy things like "Tornados and thunderstorms coming", thinking it may affect their area /region?

[Nev]

Mod Note: Have moved a few posts about Australian weather to the Australian thread in Weather Abroad.

[spwill]

Woken by some loud thunder here around 7am, a couple of big thunder booms before a heavy shower arrived.

[Nev]

Been a bit of lightning damage in Hamilton and Auckland yesterday...

Hamilton Aero's runway lights were temporarily knocked out (during the day) and a couple of nearby buildings also appear to have been affected.

'Runway lights at Hamilton Airport 'short-circuited' by lightning' - TVNZ
'Lightning strike near Hamilton Airport' - TVNZ

And in Auckland, lightning appears to have caused a blaze in Golflands near Howick, blew a hole in the floor of a house in Clevedon and caused a small electrical fire at a house in Whenuapai.

'Fire in Golflands, House hit by lightning in Clevedon' - Times Live
'House struck by lightning in Auckland' - NewstalkZB