Weather Watch: No calm before the storm

A flagpole bearing the New Zealand flag was blown over in Rotorua. Storm damage can be seen across the country. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

It was the storm that the chief forecaster at MetService said wasn't going to be big, and was angry at the media for saying so and for using, what he called, emotive language, but, it turned out to be a significant nationwide storm that saw some incredible damage and affected people's travel and weekend plans from Auckland to Southland... and continues to rage on today in some areas.

Last Thursday MetService Chief Forecaster Peter Kreft went public with a blog and this video slamming the media for being emotive.

In the video Mr Kreft points to an almost non-existent low pressure system and says "it's not a massive low". Which makes it pretty obvious that, that low wasn't the low the media and WeatherWatch.co.nz were talking about.

We were obviously referring to the giant "Australia sized" one below it which, well, he then went on to talk about. "Let's take a look at the weather over the next few days as it is, in fact, expected to be severe" he says.

In my view the media has had accurate and detailed coverage of this storm. The lead up stories were accurate and mentioned the fact that the low was centred well south of New Zealand... in fact, 1000kms south of Southland. I also know that WeatherWatch.co.nz said a number of regions would be affected by rough weather, but that damage would be minimal and explained in detail why this storm wouldn't be too damaging despite its size.

However we did get damage - more than I expected actually.

The fact that the centre of this storm was about 2500kms away from Auckland, yet Auckland had some significant damage, is testament to the size and strength of this storm - which was in fact even bigger than Australia at about 4500km wide.

On Friday MetService obviously could see it was a significant national weather event as they issued dozens of severe weather warnings for every region in the country.

So was it a big storm? I think so. Was it a devastating storm? No. Did it cause widespread damage - yes, although only in isolated pockets.

Storm Highlights:

* Between 54,000 and 75,000 without power

* A house in Auckland blown apart by what appears to be a twister

* Tornados reported in Auckland and across Waikato

* Huge trees blown on to a moving car on SH1 just south of Auckland, closing northbound lanes

* 100 lightning strikes in the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa, setting fire to a shed and to trees and causing power cuts

* Over 7000 lightning strikes detected around NZ over Friday and Saturday

* SH1 closed near Bulls with water 1.5 metres deep

* SH1 closed in Southland due to snow

* SH3 closed due to serious flooding in 2 or 3 places

* Manawatu Gorge closed

* SH16, The North Western motorway in Auckland, closed to westbound traffic near the CBD on Friday night after gales brought down a large overheard sign

* Damage to a structure on Viaduct Harbour

* Flooding in parts of Wairarapa and Kapiti

* Roof removed on a house in New Plymouth

* Flooding in Taranaki

* Trees uprooted across Auckland and Waikato

* New Zealand Herald had delays of 6 to 9 hours getting the paper delivered on Saturday due to major power outage

* Residents trapped in a North Shore home after gales damaged their house on Friday night

* Reports of a roof collapsing in Tauranga

* Tiles blown off houses in Auckland

* A car partly crushed by a huge pine tree in Grey Lynn

* Some Auckland roads closed by trees and fallen powerlines

* A car hit a tree in Auckland, occupant taken to Middlemore hospital with moderate injuries

* Brand new Stadium Southland suffered catastrophic damage when the roof collapsed under heavy snow

* 16cms of snow fell in Invercargill

* Another building in Invercargill had its roof collapse under snow

* Police warned people in Southland not to drive and to stay indoors

* Most businesses in Invercargill close doors on Sunday due to severe weather

* Civil Defence warns Aucklanders to stay away from West Coast due to 8 metre swells

* Snow falls in Dunedin

* Snow falls on Stewart Island

* Hurricane force winds, peaking at 154km/h, hit the Manukau Heads farming region

* MetService issued 30 severe weather warnings for every region in the country

* Invercargill and Queenstown Airports both closed

* Many prop aircraft flights delayed or cancelled at Wellington airport

* Powerpole snapped in half in Auckland

* Sheds destroyed across Auckland and Waikato

I'll end with a comment posted on the MetService YouTube video by user lanceand as I think it sums up my thoughts on the matter: "Good synopsis of the situation, although I think you could have skipped the shock horror about the "stories" at the beginning. MetService should just give the facts (as best they know them). While I heard many people talk about a big storm coming, they weren't in any way alarmed. Mostly they'd heard about how the storm had affected southeastern Oz. And clearly we are in a period of nasty weather. Those stories really weren't that alarmist".