Waikato skies lit up by electrical storm

Waikato skies lit up by electrical storm

Major electrical storm over Hamilton

Well not sure if this really qualifies as much, after we all experience a good thunderstorm light show now and then where ever we might live. But to me this ones a little interesting given the norm for us here in my region and country.

Ive seen some impressive displays of weather over the decades but last night was something way out of the ordinary, so have the last couple of days.

We've had wide spread lightning storms every afternoon the last few days almost everyday this week across the upper North Island (we had 22,000 lightning strikes across the North Island two days ago) which is in of itself isnt out of the ordinary but the widespread aspect of it is unusual. I live about 30 minutes from Hamilton city and the storms for the most part have sort of slid around the town where I live, they basically split part and one goes around one side and the other goes the other side then they seem to rejoin after missing my town without even dropping a bit of rain on us Its weird but must be due to our local mountain acting as a shield, but its beside the point really ... However last night was a doosey.

It started around 3-4pm big old huge towering clouds start to pop up around the horizon, constant (and I do mean non stop) roll of thunder with flashes and the odd visible bolt through the distant rain columns, it all skirted my town (again) then sort of settled between my town and Hamilton.

By 5pm it got bigger and covered the entire sky... effectively standing outside all you heard was none stop booming, it was loud for us and we where kilometers from it, i feel sorry for the poor residents who where under it all the time must have been deafening. Now imagine constant (and i do me, non stop) booming and flashing for around 6 hours straight with a flash every 1-2 second somewhere in your field of view, once it started to get dark basically the horizon was a constant flood of flashes, it was far away enough now so the booms where hard to ear (although some of the BIG flashes still made a heck of a bang even where I was), I just sat outside for a few hours watching the horizon line in the direction of Hamilton city. Looked like they were under constant heavy bombing during a war. When it stopped it was bizarre... one last flash and that was it... all over.

Was sort of disappointed we didnt get to experience it, but after reading about the flooding and the large hail stones... I decided it was good it avoided my town, still got one heck of a light show, watching at a distance has its advantage given you can see the lightning strikes all in one go. Can only imagine what sort of chaos it was like to actually be under it all.

Apart from the rather sleep depriving night time heat we've had to put up with recently and the really stinging sun during the day. Its proof to me that regardless of its cause there's definitely some sort of climate change happening. Thing is it seems we've got even more wacky weather to come over the next few days hopefully its just a short period kinda thing. We've had some annoying unexpected power outages due to it, and we lost 2 TV channels the other night as well.

Once again not much of a big thing, but impressive to me all the same, natures furry in all its glory. Just wish I was able to catch some on film

Anyone else been in or witnessed a storm like that in their part of the world recently?... anyone think its a indication earths weathers gonna get worse, or just an isolated event?

Edit:- Seems theres a couple of vids around of it, but none really capture the 'whoa' of it all.


[edit on 27-1-2010 by BigfootNZ]

The 'Tron aye...thought the fireworks there were more relegated to Te Rapa Straight on Friday and Saturday with the boyracers....



Cracked up yesterday at work.
We got an Emergency Notice from our (Wellington) Hospital Emergency Management Team notifying of impending severe thuderstorms and torrential rainfalls.

They even advised us that if the severe weather approaches and we feel threatened to take shelter immediately.


...looking out the window upon reading it...well...I wondered which window the EM Team was looking out of...as it was an absolutely pearler of a day here in Wellys...

Saw your light show from Auckland!!! Was about 11:00 or so when I saw it outside... extensive vertical development towering cumulous storm cells far away and a decent, yet closer stratus outflow, came to around the back end of east auckland.

Had similar storm to what you describe up here in auckland about 5 or 6 months ago - biggest, loudest and longest thunderstorm I have ever seen in NZ, even bigger than the ones we'd occasionally get in the Waitakere ranges out west. Saw multiple ground strikes on the opposite valley (uncommon in AKL) and calculating flash-rumble time put it at around 600m-2km altitude, It was pretty much stationary the whole 5 or 6 hours.

It would be crazy if someone found tesla's old Lightning Rod idea with shooting electricity into the ionosphere. And then having it come back down at an Insanely Increased state.

Originally posted by spaz490
It would be crazy if someone found tesla's old Lightning Rod idea with shooting electricity into the ionosphere. And then having it come back down at an Insanely Increased state.

heh yeah, thing is when you think about... imagine the amount of electrical energy wasted had we some sort of system to harness lightning strikes we'd have enough to power the entire country for a good decade or so.

GhostR1der:-

Yeah the storm had stopped for us around 10pm ish so i guess it was moving up to you lot.

The one yesterday was basically stationary as well, it was odd you'd watch the clouds and one minute they'd be moving in one direction, then 10 minutes latter they'd be coming back the opposite direction again, real slow moving clouds also despite the noticeable wind. It was more like the center of the storm was stationary and it sort of grew or shrank out of this central core.

I grew up in Auckland and forked lightning that struck ground was kinda rare, id say in 20 years I saw maybe 3 strikes (not counting forked lightning from storms out at sea), lived in the Bays area.

Alien:-

Often while watching in over the 6 hours or so it was going on id step back inside under the roof over hang of the house. Its fine watching lightning on the horizon but when you hear a boom go off that seems to be almost over head it makes you rethink what your doing as foolish I sure as hell wouldnt have gotten near any water taps or down pipes while in Hamilton or even gone outside even for a second. Just not worth the risk with all that stuff coming down. I remember that American case of the cyclist who died from a lightning bolt on a clear day that came from a storm over the horizon... poor bugger had a bad case of luck.

Im sure we'll have more today... heres hoping its impressive but not so disruptive.

The good thing is i guess... the farmers and gardeners got their plants and pastures nitrogen fixed well and good . Not to mention it'll hold off that possible drought we might still end up getting that northland started to get last month.


[edit on 27-1-2010 by BigfootNZ]

reply to post by BigfootNZ


I find it interesting that you have made the same observation as myself and many others, ground strikes are normally rare here... I'd guess it could be related to the smaller cloud heights and temperatures compared to the tropics.
When I was growing up and watched thunderstorms there were never any groundstrikes that I saw. Then perhaps 2 strikes about 3 years ago. In that massive storm recently there were at least 4 or 5 in a small area infront of me, plus a few in the distance. Today there was another one, counted 3 groundstrikes within 20 minutes, with most of the action within the clouds. Almost everyone whom I've spoken to hardly ever see them in NZ, now all of a sudden I see heaps in a small period.

Originally posted by GhostR1der
Almost everyone whom I've spoken to hardly ever see them in NZ, now all of a sudden I see heaps in a small period.

I wouldnt say that, I agree in Auckland they are rare, but down here in Te Awamutu south of Hamilton we get ground strikes at least a few times every thunder storm, which is at least once every 2 months or so. About 4 months ago we had a storm I watched which hit the town, and watched a bolt strike ground about a kilometer west of our house behind some low paddock hills... rattled the windows, some poor cow probably got barbecued

It could be we're alot higher in altitude where also next to a sizable mountain (mount Pirongia) and a fairly large hill (mount Kakapuku(sp?)). It could be these landmarks that whip up the atmospheric charges, any storm that comes over or past those two mounts always ends up a thunderstorm.

But the last week has definitely been out of the ordinary. Had another constant rumbler of a storm hit around 5pm yesterday, and this time it went right over the town, wind was real strong and we got decent hail. Few tree branches came down but saw no ground strikes oddly, although lots of sheet lightning.

Dont think we'll see any today although its gearing up for another stifling hot day, so we'll see what the evening brings.

Regardless, our weathers definitely changed... question is, will it be detrimental in the long run?

[edit on 28-1-2010 by BigfootNZ]

hahahaha, you soft Pig Islanders and the weather. Come down to the Mainland and well give you a show and tell about real storms

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest (and it was tongue-in-cheek by the way).

Sounded like an amazing electrical storm from what I have read/seen. The awesome power of Nature. Wonderful to behold.

[edit on 28-1-2010 by aorAki]

reply to post by BigfootNZ


That must have been quite a show. I'm actually a little envious, as here in the Bay of Plenty, we've been spared the majority of these storms. Although, we did have a power surge at my workplace which blew a few contacts and circuit breakers on Wednesday night. But most of the times, we've just seen the heads of storms on the horizon, looking towards Rotorua/Waikato.

About a week ago I saw that the weather situation was going to be prime for some thunderstorms, and I'll admit, I got a bit excited. I love a good storm once in a while. It gives you a good appreciation for the power of nature. I grew up around the Rotorua/Taupo area and remember going through similiar weather situations of hot, humid days, followed by intense storm activity in the late afternoon/evening. This could continue every day for a couple weeks.

But since living in the Mount, I have yet to see a serious amount of lightning, although we did get that major hail storm last year. But definitely not complaining about the weather here in the Bay. I've only got a few more weeks to enjoy, before becoming a JAFA