The South Island was hit by a southerly blast yesterday, with snow down to almost sea level in places. Check out the scene in Christchurch here, for example.
In Nelson we just got high winds and a lot of rain, which meant that solar observations were impossible. We’ll just have to wait another 105 years. The seas at the Boulder Bank looked spectacular however. They were not particularly large, but the offshore wind was lifting the tops. You could see the “white horses” rising up above the Boulder Bank from a long way off. Here are some examples:
It was quite difficult to stand up during the gusts, which I think means they were over 40 knots.
It looked as if the waves had been overtopping the Boulder Bank at high tide, which means they had been a lot bigger than these during the night.
A coastal tanker was anchored out in Tasman Bay, waiting to come into port. It looked good against the approaching rain showers:
This morning we awoke to almost clear skies, 5 degrees and a nice view:
