Complex low pressure system & cold outbreak 3rd-8th August

[tich]

Some sleety flakes in Lyttelton about noon today.

[RWood]

I really wish NIWA would stop comparing apples with oranges, both in their Climate Summaries and when issuing inaccurate and misleading statements like the one quoted in this story.

It claims that Queenstown recorded -7C on Sunday morning, making it Queenstown's 2nd lowest August temp since records began in 1871.

Queenstown Aero in Frankton actually recorded a T-min of -6.5C on Sunday morning according to MS, which (along with 1995) does make it the airport's 2nd equal lowest August temp since records began there in 1969 (-7.8C in 1972 being the lowest).

However, NIWA's generally warmer older site near Queenstown Gardens has an average August T-min that's 1.4C higher than the airport. Not surprisingly, it only recorded -5.1C on Sunday morning. So from records spanning 1871-1880 and 1930-2016, it has recorded colder days in 1957, 1952, 1939, 1938 and 1878 (the latter being the coldest with -6.1C).

Amen to that! Media quick to be highlighting the 1871 of course, but NIWA's fault.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Some sleety flakes in Lyttelton about noon today.

Looked a bit like that from Halswell, Ben as that cloud cover moved from the south, seemed to be coastal as nothing here in West Melton.

[Manukau heads obs]

was alot of damage to power lines by the looks
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/hundred ... z4GfvYY6hj

[NZstorm]

Someone talking on the radio today said there were at least 300 power poles snapped by the weight of the snow on the lines! When one snaps you get a domino affect.
The snow was the wet type which is heavy.

The models had done a good job several days in advance in narrowing down the central to lower North Island as the area for severe snowfall.

[tgsnoopy]

Those of you with FaceBook might like to check out this Album:
https://www.facebook.com/UnisonNetworks ... =3&theater

[Bradley]

Latest EC run is much the same as this mornings, around 10-12mm of rain for the total event (wed-sat) for Christchurch and perhaps 1-2cm of snow on Friday whereas inland area like Sheffield at 300m asl is showing around 15-20cm, certainly going to be almost exclusively an inland event this one!

What sort of history does EC have with these events? GFS showing a lot more than 10-12mm for whole event, and from what I remember, they seem to be quite good..

Sorry CantyWX I just saw your above question now! Sorry for the late reply but the answer is it does very well usually in that kind of setup, EC predicted for at least 3 days before the event that Christchurch would only get 10-12mm for the whole event and in the end Christchurch got 13mm whereas models like GFS were going for close to 30mm for the event right up to a day before so I don't bother even looking at GFS any longer for winter storms, it is just to innacurate...

[Dean.]

Over 40mm for the event here including 4cm of snow