Rare 'hurricane' cloud seen over Dunedin

We got our heatwave with temperatures hitting 25 every day on the Taieri and around 21-23 in the city. There was a bit of sea fog a few days and some thunder cell formation that didn't eventuate.

I forecast some severe thunderstorms on Wednesday, not sure if they would eventuate.

I was going to leave it but then I saw an anvil cloud, that's very rare here and forms the basis of a hurricane.

In fact, hurricane Irma was a group of these clouds.

They're like any cumulonimbus cloud but get so high that there is no moisture above them. This makes the flat top.

One of these is the equivalent of Mount Everest in height.

The air rushing along above the cloud can sometimes make the winds around the cell gust up to 120kmh.

Forecast:
Next week will be a stark reminder that it's still spring and spring is changeable. Rain will prevail for most of the week and my school camp might wake up to some light snow in Queenstown next week. I'll get some photos and post them when I get back on Friday.

My posts on my page (Dunedin Weather, But By a Thirteen-year-old) will be automated next week and I won't get out a column.

Have fun with your lives for the next two weeks!

By Ben Hawke