Windy weather September 14-17

[Chris W]

MetService going all out for heavy rain on the coast and high winds for much of the country, thought it worthy of a thread:

36906E80-3CD5-468B-879D-C0C844BB1005.png

[Storm Struck]

A real NW fohn attack this week with the odd SW flick, chance of a few isolated thunderstorms and hail skirting the coast up to banks pennsinsula on Tuesday.

[mikestormchaser]

A real NW fohn attack this week with the odd SW flick, chance of a few isolated thunderstorms and hail skirting the coast up to banks pennsinsula on Tuesday.

Another risk for lightning on thursday afternoon to. I think trouble on both days looks like a strong pre frontal NW and low DPs

[Chris W]

Gust front potential Tuesday maybe, but after dark.

[mikestormchaser]

At best i think tuesday looks very coastal offshore. Its very W-NW on tuesday/wensday.. thursday afternoon looks better for lightning esp in south Canterbury

[Chris W]

Hence gust front rather than storms.

[mikestormchaser]

It actually looks better than last night did on the gfs run. So could be low risk coastal/Banks peninsula. Not best set up but something

[Chris W]

I'd settle for a good southerly buster, but anything else would be a bonus. That said, it's 18C at 7pm in mid-September so we're doing ok. Wind has tried to rearrange my garden this arvo.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Been windy in Geraldine today by Geraldine standards, but nothing really substantial.

[tornado]

thunderstorms on the west coast today. maybe a isolated tornado down there.

[Orion]

Very dark skies to the west and north-west; rain now hitting windows facing those directions.
A couple of times in the past half-hour I've wondered is that thunder?

11.8°C, fresh NW breeze.

[Richard]

Dark here too, but whats odd is the strong wind has been coming in from the ENE, gone calm now so rain is close

[snowykiwi]

Lovely and sunny here in Rakaia with a good strong wind blowing. Brief spill over rain earlier from the northwest. Quite a wind chill though.

[Orion]

^ Ya, sunny now and only 11.7°C, moderate breeze.

[tornado]

i see still thundery along the west coast. they might get a damaging wind gust/tornado some time today as met service says in their thunderstorm outlook. i think they should update to high risk too.

[Rogue]

Screenshot_20200915-203836.jpg

Plenty of lightning with this, wish we had radar velocity available...

[tornado]

I see thunderstorms lower north island. I wish this northern high would go away.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Windy day here in Geraldine but the westerly wind was much cooler than yesterday.
Temperatures was in the low teens for today but it did get to 17C at one stage.
Winds easing away this evening.

[Chris W]

Wind certainly picked up this arvo in Amberley, with some parts of Chch also experiencing severe gusts according to Transport for Christchurch.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Just come back from Ashburton for the day. quite windy with dust across the plains from river-beds.
Thundery rain band along the Alps.

[Richard]

Has to be the worse wind I've seen here, tree's down all over the district, still have power which is amazing

[Richard]

Strongest gust was 104kmph at 2m above ground

[TonyT]

Strongest gust was 104kmph at 2m above ground

Which is not particularly strong. "Only" 56 knots. About what would be expected with a mean speed just reaching gale force (34 knots), and you wouldn't expect trees to come down at that speed. Broken branches yes, but not whole trees.

What I've noticed this afternoon has been how sudden and "sharp" the gusts have been (I've had lower speeds here, peak gusts around 35-40 knots). The NW'er is always a very gusty wind, but today's has been noticeable for how rapidly the front edge of each gust has risen from low to high speed. That could account for damage at speeds which wouldn't normally produce it. Probably something to do with atmospheric stability.

[Razor]

Strongest gust was 104kmph at 2m above ground

Any Wellington regulars will be saying its just a gentle zephyr

[Richard]

Strongest gust was 104kmph at 2m above ground

Which is not particularly strong. "Only" 56 knots. About what would be expected with a mean speed just reaching gale force (34 knots), and you wouldn't expect trees to come down at that speed. Broken branches yes, but not whole trees.

What I've noticed this afternoon has been how sudden and "sharp" the gusts have been (I've had lower speeds here, peak gusts around 35-40 knots). The NW'er is always a very gusty wind, but today's has been noticeable for how rapidly the front edge of each gust has risen from low to high speed. That could account for damage at speeds which wouldn't normally produce it. Probably something to do with atmospheric stability.

What would it have recorded if it were at the height that most anemometer are at
There are hundreds and hundreds of trees down, the Medbury forest has been flattened, the local pig farm has lost heaps of huts