Local Weather Today - Saturday 18th August 2012

[JennyLeez]

Report current or recent weather conditions at your location or elsewhere for Saturday 18th August below.
You do not need a weather station, just look out your window and tell us what is going on above you.

If your conditions change, let us know. We will keep our Twitter, Google + and Facebook followers informed during the day.

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[OhauitiWeather]

Some of the most spectacular thunder heard in years is booming, rumbling and exploding across large parts of Auckland tonight as a small but highly active area of rain and thunderstorms move in from the Tasman Sea.

The thunderstorms and torrential rain, which rapidly formed on Friday evening, have aimed mostly at Auckland but are also affecting southern Northland and parts of Waikato.

Shortly before the line of thunderstorms made landfall the strike rate was over 1000 an hour according to the Lightning Tracker displayed at WeatherWatch.co.nz.  It has weakened a fair amount since making landfall however more thunderstorms remain out in the Tasman Sea, adding to the current strike count.

View the tracker now - live and free  http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/lightning-radar

"That thunder was intense! 30 seconds long with three massive bangs in the middle of it. Lightning almost blinded me" wrote Mandy Humphrey-Towler on WeatherWatch.co.nz's Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/WeatherWatch.co.nz

"I Saw it strike the sky tower 10 minutes ago!" wrote Andrew Francis.

Meanwhile another reader, Wiremu McCord wrote "Very bright lightening and violent thunder in Mangere, waking all the kids"

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says it was the best thunder he's heard in Auckland for over a decade at least.  "As someone who loves a good thunderstorm this was one of the better for me.  So many thunderstorms die out before they reach Auckland, but this one didn't start to ease until it reached a number of suburbs west of State Highway One".

"Of course saying this was the 'best' thunder is entirely subjective, but judging by the comments on our Twitter and Facebook pages I'd say many others agree".

Mr Duncan described the thunder as continuous at times, very loud, and on a couple of occasions "like a rocket in the distance that was backfiring".

Thunder booms set off car alarms in West Auckland followed by torrential rain which, at times, was as loud as the thunder. 

"Attention white water rafters: My driveway is now available...." wrote Geoff Blackmore of Swanson, West Auckland, on our Facebook page.

The bulk of the thunderstorms and heavy downpours were expected to ease around 3am with further showers containing a more moderate risk of isolated thunderstorms through Saturday morning, before showers clear later during Saturday in Auckland.

- WeatherWatch.co.nz
http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/boom-big-thunderstorms-rumble-and-shake-auckland?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

[Hank13]

Ashburton @  07:00 AM
Overcast
Currant Temp.  5.6°C   
Rain  0.0 mm
Current wind. 0.0 km/h,WSW

[ato2]

New Plymouth: Morning all: dampish, mild and not good for mowing lawns.!

[David]

Beautiful sunny day in Howick.

Had a thunderstorm between about 12am and 1am with occasional lightning, nothing too spectacular. We got 14mm of heavy rain in the early hours.

[JennyLeez]

Wairoa at 09:00

Fine, Calm and Cold.
The Over Night Temp Low was  4.9 °C
Rainfall of  0.0 mm since midnight.
Rainfall last 24 hours 0.0 mm
Current Temp Outside is  8.5 °C with Humidity  89%  and Dew Point  6.8 °C
Latest Wind Gust  8.6 km/h with speed of  7.2 km/h  WNW
Wind Chill is  8.5 °C
Baro  1019.2 hPa and Solar:  316

[TonyC]

Port Robinson, North Canterbury 9.15am

Fine morning. Temperature 7.6° after a low of 5.1°. Expected high 12°. Light WSW breeze around 3kmh.

[ato2]

Sunny now, in New Plymouth, 11 degrees, near calm conditions locally.

[Phil]

Belmont, Lower Hutt

8.7 degrees
99% Humidity
Calm
Nil Rain
barometer on 1020
Solar 174

Cloudy skies with the sun occasionally breaking through, should be an okay day

[JohnR]

Cloudy with the odd bit of drizzle here this morning at 9.00am

Wind 2.5kmh from the North

13.0C

24hr Rainfall 3mm

Overnight low 6.6C

[Te Puke Weather]

Conditions at local time 09:20 on 18 August 2012 - © Te Puke Weather Station

Temperature and Humidity
Temperature   13.8 °C   Dew Point   13.0 °C
Windchill   13.8 °C   Humidity   95%
Heat Index   13.8 °C   Apparent Temperature   14.7 °C
Solar Radiation   0 W/m²   Evapotranspiration Today   0.00 mm

Rainfall
Rainfall Today   0.0 mm   Rainfall Rate   0.0 mm/hr
Rainfall This Month   101.1 mm   Rainfall This Year   933.9 mm
Rainfall Last Hour   0.0 mm   Last rainfall   2012-08-16 19:31

Wind
Wind Speed (gust)   5.0 km/h   Wind Speed (avg)   0.0 km/h
Wind Bearing   0° ---   Beaufort F0   Calm

Pressure
Barometer    1018.6 hPa   Rising   +0.5 hPa/hr

[deepsouthweather]

Invercargill 0948hrs.

Another stunning day. Very little cloud in the sky, Slight Northerly breeze & temp of 5.6c after a frost overnight.

[Mark]

Cloudy again only 34hours sunshine this month.
wind from the west at 5km/h.
Air temp=6.9c.

[Rwood]

We have a fair way to go to pass our record low August sun tally of 79.1 hours in 1966 (record high is 204 hours). Only 37.2 hours to Thursday 16th.

The 1966 August was dominated by high pressures (!) but highest ones were in the south and the month had a very high frequency of S-SE airflows. It was colder than normal almost everywhere but sunny in western and northern areas sheltered from the SE.

At Kelburn the total sun for 1st-17th was only 33.2 hours; the next 5 days were sunny and added 39.7 to the tally - then the gloom returned and the last 8 provided only 6.2 hours. Glad I wasn't there!

[Te Puke Weather]

Sun is out, warm, very nice day here in Te Puke 

[Sara]

Cloud is clearing.
Temperature 8.5C
Humidity 96%
Barometer 1019.7hPa
Wind Direction SE
Wind Speed 2.5km/h

Getting sick of all ther cloud cover morning and evening.

[Rex]

Mahia Beach Front.

Cloud cover ------ 10%
 
Wind ------ calm
 
Rain -------- nil
 
Temp ------ 14.4 in  / 17.6 out

[Suezy]

West Melton

One beautiful sunny day in West Melton and no wind at the moment

Temp 11.1
Wind gust 16.1 SSE
Baro 1018.1
No rain since midnight.

[einzack]

lovely sunny day in Reefton.
currently 15.6°C with no wind to speak of.
continues the rather warm month.....

[Te Puke Weather]

Conditions at local time 16:00 on 18 August 2012 - © Te Puke Weather Station

Temperature and Humidity
Temperature   17.0 °C   Dew Point   9.9 °C
Windchill   17.0 °C   Humidity   63%
Heat Index   17.0 °C   Apparent Temperature   16.0 °C

Rainfall
Rainfall Today   0.0 mm   Rainfall Rate   0.0 mm/hr
Rainfall This Month   101.1 mm   Rainfall This Year   933.9 mm
Rainfall Last Hour   0.0 mm   Last rainfall   2012-08-16 19:31

Wind
Wind Speed (gust)   11.2 km/h   Wind Speed (avg)   5.0 km/h
Wind Bearing   226° SW   Beaufort F1   Light air

Pressure
Barometer    1018.7 hPa   Steady   0.0 hPa/hr