Over the whole country we have been having capricious spring weather, with hail storms and strong winds causing some havoc. For Island Bay it has been pretty much things as usual - in other words, dynamic! The weather forecast yesterday suggested we would be hit by showers and hail, but the morning was bright and sunny. A bank of clouds seemed to be rolling in from the south, and behind Taputeranga was a line of cumulus clouds, with a towering cumulonimbus providing some drama.
Not only do they look dramatic, cumulonimbus clouds are associated with dramatic weather - thunderstorms, lightning, severe wind gusts, hail. But although there was some rain in the distance, conditions were bright and sunny - not the stormy weather that was anticipated. It was only very late in the day when the clouds became menacing.
In the area of bright cloud over the Orongorongos there were flashes of lightning. I don't know what their correct designation would be, but the heavy storm clouds seemed to fill the sky, and dwarfed the very large cruise liner heading out past Baring Head. In the mist of the rain you could hardly see the Interislander ferry or the plane up in the clouds.
Now, that's the weather we expected!