Biting winds expected in the South Island

Biting winds expected in the South Island

It's been a week of see-sawing temperatures, especially for the southeast of the country. On Tuesday the temperature recorded in Dunedin city reached 21C but today temperatures there will struggle to get into double figures. The culprit is colder air arriving over New Zealand from the Southern Ocean which is set to bring cooler temperatures to many this weekend.

Strong winds are also set to be a key player in the weather this weekend,especially about the Southland and Otago coasts. A Severe Weather Watch is already in place for this area with MetService meteorologists advising that wind may rise to severe gale force during Thursday night through into Saturday. The combination of low temperatures and strong winds will also generate a significant wind chill factor. Central New Zealand is also set to experience some blustery weather with a watch for severe gales also in place for Buller and Nelson along with Central Hawkes Bay and the Tararua District.

That cold southwesterly wind is set to spread across the country on Friday.The good news is there will be some fresh snowfall for many of the southern skifields and also for Mt Ruapehu. Many kiwis are already waxing their skis and boards in anticipation of the upcoming season which is scheduled to commence for some fields this weekend. You can find the latest skifield forecasts on metservice.com.

Accompanying the strong south-westerly winds will be large amounts of swell around the southern and eastern coasts. These swells should continue to push northwards beyond Aotearoa up into the tropics, arriving in time for Ricardo Christie to ride at this year's Fiji Pro surf competition.

Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at 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 on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com

ENDS

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