Polar blast: Freak hail storm hammers Wellington, New Zealand
Wellingtonians were woken last night by an “intense” hail storm that hammered areas of the capital in the early hours.
The icy blast came as the vanguard of a polar blast sweeping up the country from the south.
With snow blanketing much of the south, leaving numerous highways closed and even falling to sea level in Christchurch overnight, attention is turning to the north, which is starting to feel the brunt of the polar air.
20 flights have been cancelled at Wellington Airport this morning, with an airport spokesman saying that they are regularly inspecting their runway and seawalls as heavy swell batters the coast.
The polar blast brought snow to sea level in parts of the south yesterday, as well as huge seas and gales laced with a bitterly cold -20C windchill.
An active cold front and south-to-southwesterly winds will track north across the remainder of the country, with numerous weather warnings in force.
Heavy snow was possible in Taihape, around the Tararua Range and Banks Peninsula today.
A road snowfall warning is in place for the Napier-Taupō Rd (until midday Tuesday), Desert Rd (until 5pm Tuesday) and Remutaka Hill Rd (until 4pm Tuesday) in the North Island.
Residents in Wellington shared photos of the hail, saying they had been “pummelled” by the sudden downpour.
“The #hail was the size of small marbles. I’ve never seen anything like it in the time I’ve been here,” wrote Khandallah resident Brad Markham.
Courtesy of nzherald.co.nz
Freak storm carpets motorway with hail in Crete, Greece
Thunderstorms and torrential hail hit the popular tourist island of Crete of Tuesday as a storm swept through southern areas of Greece in the early hours.
People in Heraklion and Chania, the island’s biggest cities, woke to the sounds of the pounding rain after midnight. Greek media showed images of a main motorway on the island blanketed white by a heavy coating of hail and workers shovelling piled up hail from streets in the coastal town of Malia.
Police have not reported any serious damage from the storm.
Greece’s weather service said the storms and hail on Crete would continue throughout the day and might also hit the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.
Courtesy of ekathimerini.com
Hailstorm ruins crops in the Riverina, Australia #Hailstorm #Crops #Riverina #Australia
RIVERINA crops have been battered to the ground following a hail storm.
Wheat, canola and barely, that were showing promise of bumper yields, were not spared in the storm that swept through the region near Junee.
Tony Clough farms at “Windermere,” and “Brendon” and witnessed first-hand a storm that delivered a devastating blow.
He said 40mm of rain fell in quick succession and the hail that came with it bashed crops to the ground.
“It looks like I put 1000 wethers on the paddock and grazed it,” he said.
“There are two paddocks with nothing left,” Mr Clough explained.
He said wheat and canola was affected and to some extent barley was damaged to.
“We got absolutely smashed over a period of 20 minutes,” he said.
While the property “Brendon” was affected by the storm damage crops at “Windermere” largely escaped the storm which was estimated to come through in a strip spanning around two kilometres.
The damage has arrived at a time when crops in the region were looking fantastic due to good falls of rain.
NSW Farmers Wagga and district branch chairman Alan Brown said he had heard of large areas of crops being damaged by hail.
Mr Brown is also a crop insurance consultant. “The severity is high,” he said.
In addition to the Junee area Mr Brown said there were reports of damage coming in from Barellan and Weethalle as well.
“The damage is certainly there,” he said.
“And this is living proof as to why you should always insure for these events … it is sad for people who have been hit hard,” he said.
Mr Brown said the hail had come at the worst time because of the maturity of crops.
He said a storm like that meant there was nothing left.
The severity of losses in this area was expected to come to light in the next week or so as more people inspected crops.
Courtesy of therural.com.au
Majorca suffers severe damage after ‘golf ball’ hail and tornado sweep island #Hailstorm #Tornado #Majorca #Spain
A violent storm and tornado have swept across Majorca, leaving a trail of destruction across the tourist hotspot in its wake.
Giant hailstones measuring up to two centimetres pelted down on the island mid-morning, bringing down hundreds of trees and causing power outages, after the storm arrived in the town of Banyalbufar on Saturday, August 29.
The damage was of such high magnitude it left Banyalbufar’s council considering whether to declare a “disaster area”.
The mayor, Mateu Ferra, expressed his concerns, saying the landscape “will take years to recover”.
He added that while there were no serious injuries, many residents “are going to need help”.
Several witnesses captured and shared footage of the storm on social media.
Some mentioned that hail the size of golf balls fell from the sky.
Motorists said strong gusts of wind had caused pine trees to fall and block the roads, preventing them from advancing.
A couple of elderly people and their daughter had to be rescued after after a fallen pine tree left them trapped inside their home, according to the Civil Guard.
Majorca firefighters, Civil Guard teams with Special Mountain Intervention Rescue Groups went to the disaster area and are still working to quantify the extent of the damage, a process which Ferra claims will be “endless”.
Hundreds of people have been left with no fresh water, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Community manager of electric company Endesa, Magdalena Frau, says staff have been working non-stop since noon on Saturday to restore electricity supplies through alternative routes.
The company has been forced to install temporary generators in the area. but locals still remain without Internet service and telephone coverage.
Frau explained it could take some time for normal services to resume due to the damage caused to the lines.
Courtesy of dailystar.co.uk
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