Storm The Size Of Australia Hits New Zealand

[G_j]

Source: SKY


Storm The Size Of Australia Hits New Zealand

3:26pm UK, Sunday September 19, 2010

Lorna Blount, Sky News Online

A storm the size of Australia has whipped New Zealand leaving tens of thousands of people without power and a stadium roof crashing down.

..

Roofs were lifted and trees uprooted as hurricane-force winds swept across the country and lightning strikes ignited fires.

It was second natural disaster to hit the country in a fortnight.

The South Island city of Christchurch escaped the worst of the storm but continued to rocked up a series of aftershocks up to magnitude 4.5.

The storm, described by the independent weatherwatch.co.nz website as "one of the largest on the planet" stretched the emergency services.

A spokesman from the Fire Service northern communications centre said: "Most of the calls were about fallen trees across roads or property, and roofs lifting."


Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Storm-Size-Of-Australia-Hits-New-Zealand-Leaving-Thousands-Without-Power-And-Stadium-Crashing-Down/Article/201009315735227?f=rss

[ensho]

1. there must be a pic of this storm - I haven't a clue how to find it

if it was as big as Australia it would have affected more then N.Z.?

[bherrera]

3. It is a polar storm, not a typhoon

Here is a weather map reference for this storm

http://weatherwatch.co.nz/content/storm-highlights-and-facts

The storm is a polar storm, a low pressure center which impacted New Zealand because it is located South. The storm did not impact other areas because there are no inhabited islands in the region, except for New Zealand.

[CreekDog]

9. NZ is pretty far from anything else

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. One image

[ensho]

8. now I see - thank you

nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Here, I found a page of news photos:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10674389&gallery_id=113948#7097075

[G_j]

5. thank you

:-)

[Heywood J]

6. Wow. I work with people down there, I hope they're OK.

I guess I'll find out on Monday. Didn't think NZ got storms like this (or often).

[xchrom]

7. amazing. nt

[starroute]

10. There was a massive storm near Antarctica a month ago

Sounds like something's gone into overdrive down there. The item below originally appeared at Dr. Jeff Masters' Weather Underground blog, whey I saw it at the time.

http://www.cwwa2009.com/climate-change/jeff-masters-massive-926-mb-extratropical-storm-generating-huge-waves-off-antarctica/

Jeff Masters: Massive 926 mb extratropical storm generating huge waves off Antarctica
Posted on August 20, 2010

One of the most intense extratropical storms in recent years is churning up the waters near the coast of Antarctica in the South Indian Ocean. The powerful storm peaked in intensity yesterday afternoon with a central pressure of 926 mb — the type of pressure typically found in a Category 4 hurricane. Storms this intense form on average once per year, or perhaps less often, according to an email I received from Jeff Callaghan of the Australia Bureau of Meteorology. Since extratropical storms do not form eyewalls, the winds at the surface from this monster storm probably reached “only” 100-120 mph (equivalent to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane). The storm is forecast to generate huge waves with a significant wave height of 13 meters (44 feet) today, according to the NOAA Wavewatch III model (Figure 3).

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. It's not a disaster 'til Pat Robertson tells us why it happened.

Seriously, my prayers to all the people there. :grouphug: