A WEEK OF FRONTS

With hardly a hint of high pressure ridges over New Zealand this week the weather has been unsettled. “With front after front making their way north it has been a case of rain at times on the western coasts with more sporadic falls in the east this week. Those living on the western coasts will probably feel like they’ve had their fair share of rain this month.” commented MetService meteorologist April Clark. Milford Sounds has received a total of 234mm of rain in the last week while Paraparaumu has recorded close to 80% of it’s average total August rainfall this week (from records back to 1993).

“The changeable weather we’re experiencing is typical in winter, though the colder than average end to July means this week’s temperatures won’t have felt quite so wintery” continued Clark. Wellington airport recorded it’s warmest daytime temperature yesterday (18.1C) since the 28th of April, while Blenheim’s lowest overnight temperature this week was 2.6C, opposed to last weeks -4.1C.

The warm spell doesn’t last past today for the South Island as a southerly change sweeps north, bringing cooler temperatures and showers with snow to 600 meters to Southland and Otago today. Rain develops over Canterbury and southern Marlborough tonight, falling as snow to 500 meters about the high country from early tomorrow. Fiordland and the West Coast benefit from the southerly change as thundery showers ease today and clear to a dry Monday. Most of North Island is spared from the cooling southerly on Monday as a low forms over central New Zealand, but they don’t escape the rain which will affect all regions at some point of the day.

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