Cooler Days Ahead - 6 March 2016

Most of the country has enjoyed an unseasonably warm weekend, with Canterbury getting into the thirties. This is set to change in the latter half of next week, as a strong cold southerly change sweeps northwards.

“The majority of New Zealander’s have had another stunning weekend, with temperatures far above average for this time of year,” said meteorologist Emma Blades. “The hottest spots have been in the east, with Ashburton reaching 32C on Saturday,” added Ms Blades.

The west of the South Island has been cooler and wetter though, with Milford Sound topping up 200mm over the weekend.

The warm temperatures continue through to the start of next week for the North Island and top of the South Island, with spots in the Wellington region expected to hit 30C tomorrow. “For those who are getting tired of the hot weather and are looking forward to the cooler autumnal change, good news is in store,” commented Ms Blades, “as a couple of cold fronts are forecast to sweep the country this
week.”

The first cold front moves up the South Island on Monday, bringing some heavy rain to Westland, before moving onto the North Island on Tuesday. The really cold change is brought by the second cold front, which moves up the country on Thursday.

Strong northwesterly winds are expected ahead of this front on Thursday, followed by a fresh southerly change, bringing cold air straight up from the Southern Ocean. Northwestern New Zealand won’t feel the temperature change quite so much, but everywhere else will feel significantly colder. The coldest areas will be the far south and Otago, who will struggle to reach daytime maximums in the mid-teens, and drop into single digits at night. The strong southerly flow will also bring large swell of four to five metres to southern and eastern coasts.

Western parts of the South Island will bear the brunt of the rain accompanying the second cold front, with Southland and Clutha getting a fair amount; elsewhere just expect a few showers as the front sweeps north.

To get the most up to date information on severe weather around the country, or any other forecasts, see metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice and @MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com

ENDS

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