Storm clouds, Ararimu, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2021
weather
The rain dance worked … today anyway
Image: Su Leslie 2020
Image: Su Leslie 2020
Image: Su Leslie 2020
Six Word Saturday, hosted by Debbie at Travel with Intent
Stormy weather
Feijoa blossom. Image: Su Leslie 2019
Rain has set in for the day, with lightening strikes and hail forecast.
I’m hoping all the new buds and plants survive, including the feijoas (Acca sellowiana). In all the years we’ve had feijoa trees, this is the first time I’ve seen significant flowering.
On the bright side …
Raindrop on manuka flower. Image: Su Leslie 2019
The first six months of 2019 were the driest on record in Auckland, and now August is looking like being the wettest — with rain on 19 of 23 days, and more to come.
I’ve stopped worrying about parched soil and the water level in our tank, but I think I might need some taller gumboots (wellies, rain boots, Regenstiefel, botas de lluvia; whatever they’re called in your part of the world).
And of course raindrops on flower petals are rather pretty.
Manuka flower. Image: Su Leslie 2019
Manuka flower. Image: Su Leslie 2019
Friday Flowers
Batten down the hatches
Waves hitting rocks during a storm. Muriwai Beach, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2018
My phone has been pinging all day with wild weather alerts. It has been wet and windy here, but apparently over much of New Zealand high winds, lightening strikes and massive rainfalls have caused havoc.
There is more to come apparently.
It’s in the air
Kaipara weather; rain on the way. Shot on the wharf at Shelly Beach, Kaipara. Image: Su Leslie 2019
Air and water.
As tide, wind and rain, they have immense power. A few years ago I watched very similar clouds roll down this harbour. By the time I got home on that occasion, the storm had brought a tornado which ripped through the area where I live, killing three people. Homes were flooded and people evacuated. A whole street was destroyed.
This time, we have been lucky.
Posted to One Word Sunday | power
It’s raining again
Rain on the outside table. Image: Su Leslie 2018
It rains all year round in Auckland. You know it’s winter when it’s worth wearing a raincoat because it’s a bit too cold to let your soaked clothes just dry on your body.
But even by Auckland standards, the last few weeks have been really wet. Yesterday morning, we had 872 lightening strikes in a two hour period, and about 24mm of rain — that’s around twice the monthly average.
Too wet to eat outside — too wet to even get a proper shot of the table. Image: Su Leslie 2018
The Met Service is forecasting a respite over the next few days — showers instead rain.
A damp start to the day
New growth on the lemon tree. Two days of rain will be helping the garden. Image: Su Leslie 2018
I was going to grizzle a little about the rain and cold winds we have been experiencing for the last few days, but in the light of Queensland’s tornado, the UK’s Storm Callum, and of course, Hurricane Micheal, I will simply note that it’s been a bit damp (and dreich — thank you Anabel for reminding of this excellent Scots word), but good for my garden.
Trying to out-run the bad weather
Posted to Six Word Saturday hosted by Debbie at Travel with Intent
Forecasting the weather
… next minute. Closest lightning I’ve experienced for a while. Su Leslie 2018
From the west-facing window in my office I can see the Waitakere Ranges on a clear day (on most days actually).
I can also see the rain coming.
Sometimes the light just before a storm is so clear it makes the view almost a parody of leafy suburbia.
Today was such a day.
About two minutes after I took this, the house shook in the most amazing lightning strike. Judging from the intensity of the flash and my neighbours’ reactions too — I think we must have pretty much been Ground Zero.
