Fine weather to relinquish its brief hold over the country

Fine weather to relinquish its brief hold over the country - 24 April 2017

24 April 2017

This week, a ridge that has been sitting over central New Zealand moves north and eventually gives way to an active front pushing in from the west. The weather remains on the quiet side until the end of the week, when changeable weather muscles in. "For those on school holidays, the weather is playing ball for outdoor activities for most of the week. But once we hit Thursday and Friday, the weather starts to deteriorate," said MetService meteorologist April Clark.

The low cloud and patchy drizzle currently affecting the east coast and south of the South Island continues into tomorrow, with drizzle possible for dawn services in Dunedin. Further north, the east coast also gets the slightly soggy end of deal with occasional showers continuing into Tuesday morning, but these become few and far between by evening.

“Most western regions around the country experience fine weather tomorrow, though Westland says goodbye to the sunshine with drizzle forecast for in the evening,” said Ms Clark.

“On Wednesday and Thursday, most of the country remains sunny apart from areas of morning cloud or fog. However, places west of the Southern Alps deteriorate into rain with a front approaching from the west,” she went on to say.

During Friday, the front moves up the South Island delivering a period of heavy rain to the west and scattered falls out to regions further east. Some rain may also spread into the west of the North Island later in the day. Strong northerlies lie ahead of the front, with Wellington expected to get its first taste of strong to gale winds in more than two months on Friday (the last time Kelburn recorded a gust exceeding 110 km/hr was 13 February!). The front continues to move north on Saturday, delivering a period of rain for the rest of the North Island.

ends

© Scoop Media