Polar blast & NI low 11-14th July

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Fri 14/07/2017 18:48

Some nice 'feathery' Cu forms here this afternoon

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sat 15/07/2017 14:13

Power still off here and will be for a couple more days by the sounds. Just got cell reception back. Huge snow fall around here and an absolute mess.

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Sat 15/07/2017 14:39

Commiserations - hope you get a thaw soon, jamie, the power back on, and many hands to help clear up the mess.

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sat 15/07/2017 18:02

Didn't realise the power was off in Hamilton ?

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Sat 15/07/2017 20:50

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Didn't realise the power was off in Hamilton ?

Yup its been off for ages, all this snow its a real heavy burden, on trees, buildings, people...... a real mess!

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sat 15/07/2017 21:39

Ended up bailing and heading home from the inlaws. With power out for a few more days and me being very unwell with the flu and kids unwell too we made to call to come home. It was an amazing experience watching a foot of snow fall. All the locals can't remember a fall so big there. 1 to 2 feet was common and drifts fence height in places. Heard of 4wd motor bikes, Utes and big John Deere tractors getting bellied out and stuck in it.

I'll post a couple picks tomorrow

David · Unread post by **David** » Sun 16/07/2017 10:48

Isn't Jamie talking about Taihape? Why would the snow have caused power cuts to Hamilton? Getting a bit confused now...

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 16/07/2017 10:53

Yes if you refer back I mentioned early on I was in Taihape. Some photos my wife took while I sat in bed sick. Sorry the best picks have people in them but not keen to load them onto here.

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NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Sun 16/07/2017 12:41

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Didn't realise the power was off in Hamilton ?

sorry, I didn't realize that you were in Taihape and not very well especially being really cold with all that snow there. Nice wintry photos tho'.

Orion · Unread post by **Orion** » Sun 16/07/2017 13:23

Good photos; looks really wet snow, very heavy, the stuff that sags the power-lines, breaks tree-branches, flattens shrubs and guttering. Unpleasant.
I guess you can say that the experience was "memorable".
Hope you are well again soon, jamie.

Nev · Unread post by **Nev** » Sun 16/07/2017 17:06

(On Thursday) Thunder081 wrote:The peak winds in Wellington are over but it's still going strong right now along with persistent rain with some heavy falls. Here's the mt kaukau wind obs showing a 161 km/h gust.

kaukau5.PNG

Yeah, I think you'd have to go back to the June 20, 2013 Storm to find higher gusts around Wellington (enough to set the Interislander adrift from its berth). Last Thursday morning, gusts at both Mt Kaukau and Brothers Island in Cook Straight peaked at 167 km/h according to MS, compared to 202 km/h and 182 km/h respectively in 2013.

NIWA also said that gusts at Baring Head peaked at 156 km/h on Thursday, and that the highest gust ever recorded there since 1991 was 217 km/h in March 2010. Note though that in the 2013 event, readings appear to have ceased around 6pm on June 20 after gusts reached 144 km/h.

RWood · Unread post by **RWood** » Mon 17/07/2017 07:43

Nev wrote:
(On Thursday) Thunder081 wrote:The peak winds in Wellington are over but it's still going strong right now along with persistent rain with some heavy falls. Here's the mt kaukau wind obs showing a 161 km/h gust.

kaukau5.PNG
Yeah, I think you'd have to go back to the June 20, 2013 Storm to find higher gusts around Wellington (enough to set the Interislander adrift from its berth). Last Thursday morning, gusts at both Mt Kaukau and Brothers Island in Cook Straight peaked at 167 km/h according to MS, compared to 202 km/h and 182 km/h respectively in 2013.

NIWA also said that gusts at Baring Head peaked at 156 km/h on Thursday, and that the highest gust ever recorded there since 1991 was 217 km/h in March 2010. Note though that in the 2013 event, readings appear to have ceased around 6pm on June 20 after gusts reached 144 km/h.

Good to see those numbers - helps balance the hyperbole in various outlets (where it's usually "the worst yet").
The March 2010 reading at Baring was interesting - a "pulse" in a fast moving southerly "buster".

Tornado Tim · Unread post by **Tornado Tim** » Mon 17/07/2017 08:39

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Didn't realise the power was off in Hamilton ?
sorry, I didn't realize that you were in Taihape and not very well especially being really cold with all that snow there. Nice wintry photos tho'.

And I thought you were joking...... haha. Snow causing a power outage in Hamilton would be very rare indeed!

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Mon 17/07/2017 10:12

And I thought you were joking...... haha. Snow causing a power outage in Hamilton would be very rare indeed!

Even non-settling flurries (like in August 2011) in Hamilton are extremely rare.

Thunder081 · Unread post by **Thunder081** » Mon 17/07/2017 11:22

Nev wrote:
(On Thursday) Thunder081 wrote:The peak winds in Wellington are over but it's still going strong right now along with persistent rain with some heavy falls. Here's the mt kaukau wind obs showing a 161 km/h gust.

kaukau5.PNG
Yeah, I think you'd have to go back to the June 20, 2013 Storm to find higher gusts around Wellington (enough to set the Interislander adrift from its berth). Last Thursday morning, gusts at both Mt Kaukau and Brothers Island in Cook Straight peaked at 167 km/h according to MS, compared to 202 km/h and 182 km/h respectively in 2013.

NIWA also said that gusts at Baring Head peaked at 156 km/h on Thursday, and that the highest gust ever recorded there since 1991 was 217 km/h in March 2010. Note though that in the 2013 event, readings appear to have ceased around 6pm on June 20 after gusts reached 144 km/h.

Wow! thanks for those links I didn't know about that 217 km/h gust at baring head. Out of my 22 years of living in Wellington that southerly front on 12/3/10 was the wildest and best looking southerly front I had ever seen. As that front was moving across Cook Strait and then onto the harbor it was whipping up lots of sea spray and in one video you can see the spray rotating on the water.

This is the video from about 0:38 on the bottom left you can see it rotating and all the spray to the right is curved into it.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Mon 17/07/2017 19:04

My inlaws still have no power and looks like a couple more days maybe. To see some of the damage very close to them search powerco on Facebook. There are pictures and videos on their page.

tgsnoopy · Unread post by **tgsnoopy** » Wed 19/07/2017 06:24

jamie wrote:My inlaws still have no power and looks like a couple more days maybe. To see some of the damage very close to them search powerco on Facebook. There are pictures and videos on their page.

Are they down Mangaweka way? I used to live in Taihape in the early 80's.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Wed 19/07/2017 07:00

Yea gorge rd at the river.

tgsnoopy · Unread post by **tgsnoopy** » Thu 20/07/2017 06:29

Is there house visible in any of the PowerCo helicopter flyover footage? I'm still shocked at how much snow had settled & was still there post the event.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Thu 20/07/2017 08:05

No that footage is just down the river at mangaweka. I saw some pics from a farm at apiti (towards ranges from mangaweka) and they had half a metre easily!

Still no power at my inlaws but some neighbours on the same line have power some can't be far away now.

tich · Unread post by **tich** » Thu 20/07/2017 09:27

jamie wrote:No that footage is just down the river at mangaweka. I saw some pics from a farm at apiti (towards ranges from mangaweka) and they had half a metre easily!

What altitudes are involved here?

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Thu 20/07/2017 10:04

Mostly 300-500m I would think.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sat 22/07/2017 07:43

Inlaws got power last night. They have been told they will likely loose it again tho as they find more faults.

jamie · Unread post by **jamie** » Sun 23/07/2017 20:43

The next valley over from my inlaws have been told their power is still about 3 weeks away. That valley is just that little bit closer to the ranges. Must be an amazing amount of damage out there to have no power for over a month.

Richard · Unread post by **Richard** » Mon 24/07/2017 07:07

jamie wrote:The next valley over from my inlaws have been told their power is still about 3 weeks away. That valley is just that little bit closer to the ranges. Must be an amazing amount of damage out there to have no power for over a month.

If you lived in such areas as that you would really need to think about going off grid.

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