Winter's last blast?

Winter's last blast? - Thursday, 3 September 2015 2:09 p.m.

Thursday, 03 Sep 2015

Winter's last blast?

This weekend New Zealand will get what may be one last taste of winter,before a settling ridge of high pressure moves in early next week. Snow, rain, gales and severe frosts are all on the cards as a strong southwest flow sets the country shivering during the first few days of Spring. "Although these unsettled conditions are not unusual for Spring," commented Meteorologist Tom Adams, "a lot of people will feel like it's still Winter this weekend."

Now that this week's main rain-bearing trough has moved off to the east, a series of fronts travel up the country in a strengthening south westerly flow, drawing up colder air from a long way south. These fronts will bring periods of rain and showers as they pass, falling as snow to very low levels in some places as the temperature plummets. A low from the north also joins the mix, scraping past the far north of the country in the early hours of Saturday morning and bringing a period of rain. On Monday a ridge spreads in from the west, bringing clearing skies for most and severe frosts for those in the far south as well as to inland places.

For the South Island, Saturday is expected to deliver fresh snow to the foothills, falling to near sea level in the far south. On Father's Day the snow reaches the North Island high country and, as the winds turn more southerly still, severe gales are possible about the east coast of the South Island. Low temperatures, combined with wind chill associated with these gale southerlies, will bring significant added stress to new-born livestock.

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

© Scoop Media