NZ Weather Forum

Some nice 'feathery' Cu forms here this afternoon

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.

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

Didn't realise the power was off in Hamilton ?

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!

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

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

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.

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'.

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.

(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.

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".

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yea gorge rd at the river.

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.

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.

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?

Mostly 300-500m I would think.

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

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.

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.