Changeable weather ahead

MetService News Release
Thursday, 19 November 2015

Changeable weather ahead

The outlook for the weekend and the week ahead has a distinct spring-like feel, with the country sitting in a prevailing westerly flow as a number of fronts sweep through.

The first of these fronts moves across the country on Friday, preceded by strong, moist northwesterlies. A burst of heavy and thundery rain is likely in the west of the South Island, while the Tararua Range, Mt Taranaki, and the ranges of the central North Island could also receive some heavy falls. Meanwhile, blustery northwest winds are expected in parts of Wellington, Wairarapa, Marlborough and inland Canterbury. It will be a wet Friday for most western places, and a few showers are expected in eastern areas with thunderstorms possible in Canterbury during the afternoon.

This front then stalls over the North Island on Saturday, while another weaker front moves onto the South Island. "At this stage there is some disagreement between the computer models over the position and intensity of the respective rainbands," said MetService Meteorologist Ciaran Doolin. "However, it is likely that many people in the west and north of both islands will experience wet weather heading into the weekend," Doolin went on to say.

The weather begins to improve over the North Island on Sunday and into Monday, as the front moves off to the east. Meanwhile, the South Island remains in a showery westerly flow, which is likely to last until mid-week, keeping western areas wet while the east remains dry. Looking further ahead, another active front approaches the South Island towards the end of next week.

With changeable weather ahead, you can 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 and@MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com

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