General May Weather

[NZstorm]

With a freezing level that isn't any lower then 700m in a non-warm advective scenario I will be very surprised to snow to sea level in Canterbury

Strong convection locally knocks the freezing level down to near sea level. Models never show that kind of detail.

[einzack]

Had a pretty impressive front roll in a few hours ago. Went from beautiful sunny day to very dark, windy and rainy in a matter of minutes. The kids thought we were getting a tornado - must watch too much TV!
This is one of the better pics (taken from the Dunedin News Facebook page):

[matttbs]

Awesome pic

[Orion]

I happened to be looking at some Dunedin webcams around 5pm and was astounded at the difference within a very few minutes!
Watching the progress of the southerly on the rain-radar at present - it must be nearly at Timaru already.

[spwill]

Great photo. I see the wind change has produced some thunderstorms off shore.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Went through Geraldine about half past seven,
Most of it seems to be offshore.

[Andy]

Temp dropped from 15 to 5 in 20min here with 3mm of rain and winds gusting 75kph at 5pm

[Orion]

Wind-change just arrived here in Ashburton.

[Thunder081]

For my 100th post I present yall this

[snowykiwi]

Very strong wind change just hit here in Rakaia, strongest wind we've experienced here in the four years we've been here. Hubby is just putting tape across the big bay window facing the wind, he just saw the glass flexing a bit much for liking.

[Karliosis]

Wind change just hitting Christchurch now, I could see a nice low level gust front, a shame it's night time, couldn't get a photo with the phone camera.

[tich]

Pouring with rain now in Chch. Apparently it's now snowing on upper plains and Mt Hutt and also Port Hills.
(Sugarloaf)

[Storm Struck]

Certainly a hell of a southerly surge that one, you dont see those very often blasting up the south island that quickly , if someone could do a timestamp radar loop you will see what i mean.
Rip roaring gusty gale southerly came through here, by which time it was dry down south to Ashburton then 10 mintues later the rain developed overhead.
I would say there would have been alot of instability going up with that front, if that was mid afternoon could have been a humdinger thunder/hail set up with vigorous gusto.

Bring on the next round tomorrow night, atleast its something interesting to watch for once

[Thunder081]

Certainly a hell of a southerly surge that one, you dont see those very often blasting up the south island that quickly , if someone could do a timestamp radar loop you will see what i mean.
Rip roaring gusty gale southerly came through here, by which time it was dry down south to Ashburton then 10 mintues later the rain developed overhead.
I would say there would have been alot of instability going up with that front, if that was mid afternoon could have been a humdinger thunder/hail set up with vigorous gusto.

Bring on the next round tomorrow night, atleast its something interesting to watch for once

Yeah that was fast!

[Manukau heads obs]

the next cold front sure has alot of beefy showers behind it racing towards the SI from the southern ocean, on the Sat Image
the models have done well with this system

[Richard]

Those strong winds that accompanied the front were more coastal as they were not that strong here.

Was a frost at 6.00am, now a strong westerly has come up

[melja]

Not strong here either with max gust of 45kph last night.
Ended up with 22mm yesterday from the two rain events and 11.5mm the day before so a bit wet under foot.
No snow to be seen on Mt Gray so didnt get as low as forecast round this area.
Looking at webcams snow level looks to be not much under 1000m in many areas.

[TonyT]

Not strong here either with max gust of 45kph last night.
Ended up with 22mm yesterday from the two rain events and 11.5mm the day before so a bit wet under foot.
No snow to be seen on Mt Gray so didnt get as low as forecast round this area.
Looking at webcams snow level looks to be not much under 1000m in many areas.

There was a skim of snow on this side of Mt Grey early on, but its gone now. Down to about 400m, as expected. The wind change here was most unusual, this roaring sound built up for several seconds like a very low aircraft about to come over, then a huge gust on the SW side of the house with things blowing about, one of the strongest SW blows we have had for a while. There was a puff of NW before the change and the temp fell from 12deg to under 5deg in less than an hour.

[melja]

Mt gray is around 950m i think tho and Mt herbert on BP is i think the same which only had a skiff across the top at day break.

[Fujita Phil]

Cold here this morning. Metservice now says "snow to near level level". Yay a snow day on a Saturday

Looks cold on Macquarie Island look with fresh snow overnight

[Orion]

I was in the Mayfield area this morning, and observed that the clouds visible beyond the Rangitata and Ashburton Gorges had that sort of "high alpine" look that can presage a snowfall

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Yes, some interesting lenticular clouds over the Mt. Peel area at the moment.

[Bradley]

Latest Canterbury Plains forecast has just changed to snow to 200m for tonight

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

.......and there maybe a few flashes towards the coast as well
Here's hoping.

[einzack]

Well, today's front certainly came through with a hiss and a roar, but very different to yesterdays one.
Very heavy rain and strong SW'er. Temp dropped from a relatively balmy 12 to sit on 4.9°C currently.
Driving over the northern motorway at 4pm fad a few snowy looking bits in amongst the very heavy rain.
Looks like this one could be a stayer....