Covering period of Thursday 22 – Monday 26 February – Continuing settled weather will cap off the working week, then MetService is forecasting rain to move swiftly northwards up the country for the last weekend of meteorological summer.
A couple of crisp mornings this week remind us that autumn is just around the corner. Temperatures are on an increasing trend due to a northerly wind flow as the high pressure over the country starts shifting eastwards. This high pressure keeps our weather dry, aside from brief showers here and there for parts of the North Island, until a front arrives on Friday night down south.
As this front moves northwards on Saturday, it will bring a burst of rain to the West Coast (heavier and more persistent in the ranges) while warm northwesterlies blow across the Southern Alps into Canterbury and Otago. Heavy Rain Watches have been issued for much of the West Coast, as well as a Strong Wind Watch for the Canterbury High Country.
These warm dry winds in Canterbury on Saturday will pump temperatures into the high twenties.
MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan recomm
