Winter Continues

Thursday, 06 Aug 2015

Winter Continues

After the front which brought heavy rain and strong northerly winds across much of the upper North Island during Thursday morning, with 105mm of rain in 12 hours recorded at Cape Egmont, the trend through to the weekend is for a change to cold, showery southerlies. Respite from the showers will come early next week as a ridge moves over from the west. Briefly!

Most of New Zealand is set to be affected by adverse weather this weekend.Currently Severe Weather Watches are in place for heavy snow over West Coast and southern South Island areas through to Saturday, and Road Snow Warnings have been issued for most South Island passes, also for the Desert Road. The showery southwesterlies also bring a risk of squally thunderstorms and hail to western parts of both islands as we head into the weekend. "We're in for a changeable few days" commented MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr, "and further Severe Weather Warnings or Watches are likely to be issued as this situation evolves into the weekend".

Looking offshore, the southwesterlies set to move over the country have a long fetch stretching deep into the Southern Ocean. This will push heavy swells of 4 metres along western parts of both Islands, with 3 metre swells persisting north of Taranaki long after the winds drop away on Sunday,which is great news for surfers.

This weekend, The Warriors are set to kick off in Wellington at 5pm on Sunday and the Capital can expect chilly southerlies and possible showers for the game. Great conditions to host our Australian friends! Later on Saturday, the Australians won't be blaming the weather after playing the All Blacks, with fine and settled conditions expected in Sydney.

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

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