Covering period of Monday 14th – Thursday 17th – We’ve woken to a warmer, cloudier and foggier morning across the country today (Monday). Showers about the west will continue to ease, with cloudy areas in the east becoming fine. The snow has been topped up over the South Island so for those that aren’t back at work or school, it could be beautiful blue bird conditions on the slopes this afternoon.
This settling trend isn’t long lived as a quick moving rain band approaches from the west tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. It brings a period of heavy rain and showers to western and northern areas of the country. Thunderstorms are possible about Taranaki up to Northland, as well as Coromandel and coastal Bay of Plenty. MetService Meteorologist Katie Hillyer says, “The silver lining is that this rain band and the showers will move too quickly to allow the accumulations to climb very high, but we’ll need to keep an eye out for the wind gusts as they move through”. A background of strong winds, combined with fast moving features could bring very strong, 80-100km/hr, gusts to Northland and Auckland in the morning and afternoon. By the end of Tuesday, the rain band will be moving off the county and the showers in behind will have eased.
As the temperatures drop a bit behind the rainband, the winds will have a cold bite to them, and we will feel a return to more normal winter temperatures. Hillyer advises, “Snow to 700 metres is possible in the south of the South Island, so those that are travelling should keep an eye out for Road Snow Warnings and stay up to date with information from NZTA-Waka Kotahi”.
Wednesday is generally an easing trend across the country, but toward the end of the day we get a bit of a split in the situation. Overnight Wednesday and into Thursday, areas such as Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty will see a quick moving low cross the region, bringing rain, likely to be heavy at times. Further south, there will be showers about coastal areas in the southwest of the country such as the West Coast Region, as well as Southland, but otherwise lots of sun to fight the colder temperatures.
Please keep up to date with the most current information from MetService at MetService – Te Ratonga Tirorangi
