No
thunderstorms forecast today surprise surprise, but they did happen! I
didn’t expect to much out of today but when I looked out the window
from my location in town I saw crisp Cu beginning to develop over the
Port Hills. I went to investigate on the Waltham Road over bridge with
camera in hand. I snapped a few photos of some Cu congestus type cloud
and on the Canterbury plains to the NW of me there was some other Cu
which I took a photo of. The congestus over the Port Hills didn’t
manage to get anywhere but that small bit of Cu to the NW of me on the
plains did!
I went off and came back about an hour (maybe an hour and a half) later. During this time I noted Metservice had revised there forecast to include inland thunderstorms for Canterbury. I looked out onto the plains NW of me and was greeted by a large Cb with its anvil hung over Christchurch city, there was some other Cb’s further in the distance plus some Cu congestus. Amazing looking stuff! I couldn’t see any lightning from my location as I was to far away but there was most definitely lightning and thunder associated with this storm, this could be told due to all the sferics on the am radio (all those crackly sounds when lightning discharges, it affects the radio waves and causes interference). I wish I could say more but I wasn’t close enough to the storm to see any displays of any sorts. Enjoy the Pics!
Stephen Burrows said he thought he heard thunder when working near Northlands Mall Christchurch at the time
