Source: MetService
Covering period of Monday 8 – Thursday 11 September
The cooler temperatures, clear skies, and calm conditions that kick off the beginning of the second week of spring will be in stark contrast to the end of the week, with MetService forecasting wet and windy weather to move up the country from the early hours of Tuesday.
A clear and bright Monday morning came with an extra treat of a lunar eclipse, glimpsed as the moon set. With a ridge of high pressure extending over most of the country, cloud-free skies allowed a vast swathe of the population to view the astronomical phenomenon.
While Tuesday will also start off frosty and fresh, the impending change in the weather will not be far away. The first signs will be an increase in cloud and a switch in the wind: fresh southerly winds give way to gusty northwesterly winds about the southern South Island on Tuesday. Rain accompanies this change in weather, heaviest in the west and possibly thundery there also.
MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor says, “The front tracking northward up the country has a lot going on: heavy rain and thunderstorms right along the entire western coast; the chance of severe gale northwesterly winds for Canterbury High Country and the lower North Island; and potentially a fresh dump of spring snow for the southern ski fields. This week is really embodying what we think of as spring conditions.”
Later in the week, another shift in weather is expected. As the first front moves off to the east, a new one sinks down from the north. While still a few days away, it is already expected to pack a punch across the upper North Island.
O’Connor adds, “The northern North Island will escape the worst of the weather earlier in the week, but that will change come Thursday. Again, we are expecting heavy rain, potentially gale westerly winds, and maybe even some thunderstorms to have an impact over this area.”
With changeable weather prevailing this week, keeping up to date with the weather at metservice.com will be paramount, especially when deciding whether to take your raincoat or sunglasses – or maybe even both.
