Westerlies to return with a vengeance next week

MetService News Release
28 September 2016

Westerlies to return with a vengeance next week

After more than a week of east to northeast winds affecting the country, you might be wondering where the normally westerly winds of Spring have gone.

In the past week, persistent northeasterlies have brought flooding rains to Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula and Gisborne. A Severe Weather Warning and Watch remain in force for further heavy rain expected to affect the northeast of the North Island through to Thursday. Meanwhile, West Coasters have been enjoying a relatively fine and dry period of weather.

“Milford Sound, which averages around 550mm of rain during September, has received less than half that amount so far this month, and only 2mm has fallen there in the past 10 days,” said MetService meteorologist Peter Little.

After this unusual hiatus, caused by a blocking high camping east of the country, the equinoctial gales we usually associate with Spring weather are poised to return next week.

“We enter a transition period this weekend as the blocking high begins to weaken and move away to the east,” said Mr Little. “This will allow our weather to start moving in a more typical west-to-east fashion again, and by the looks of the long range models the westerlies will be the dominant weather driver for the first half of October,” he added.

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