Leaping into March

MetService News Release

29 Feb 2016

Leaping into March

A warm and humid northwest flow affects the North Island, while a cold front moves northwards over central New Zealand today. This cold front weakens and slows as it moves north, and while the temperature change will not be as dramatic in the north as it has been in the south, it will bring an end to the humid conditions in the upper North Island from midweek. A ridge of high pressure builds quickly behind the cold front, meaning settled weather for many places from Wednesday.

The humid northwest flow has caused MetService to issue a Severe Weather Warning for heavy rain in parts of Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato until 8pm today, with many other regions in the northern half of the North Island on Severe Weather Watch for possible bursts of heavy rain. (More information at www.metservice.com).

The southerly change moving up the country is keeping maximum temperatures under twenty degrees for many centres. “People will notice the overnight temperatures sink tonight from Manawatu south, with some places in the South Island getting to single digits,” explained Communications Meteorologist Lisa Murray, "including places like Alexandra, Gore and Te Anau possibly lowering to 5 degrees Tuesday night. The coldest it has been since January 30th.”

The North Island starts the week with rain in the north, and a few showers elsewhere, mainly in the east. The rest of the week will have a mix of fine spells and a few showers mainly in the north, east and over the high country. “Taupo is looking good for Saturday’s Ironman race, with a generally fine day and light winds”, said Ms Murray, “while the ‘Horse of the Year’ this week in Hawke’s Bay will have some cloud with the a few showers to start with then finishing with sunshine over the weekend.”

For the South Island, today is generally fine, apart from showers in the east and south clearing later. Cloud, drizzle and fine spells for Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest of the week will be cloudy in the west with rain for Fiordland, fine elsewhere. “A great day for the ‘National Track & Field Championships’ in Dunedin on Thursday,” encouraged Ms Murray, “where they can expect sunshine and light winds.”

Official Severe Weather Watches and Warnings are reviewed and re-issued by MetService at least every twelve hours, and more often if necessary. To get the most up to date information on severe weather around the country, or any other forecasts, see 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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