Chilly Showery Southwesterlies Until Friday

MetService is forecasting chilly, showery southwesterlies for the rest of this week. A low-pressure system arrived on Sunday and Monday, as the associated fronts crossed Aotearoa bringing some wet and windy conditions. The passage of this system marks the beginning of a few days of southwest winds for New Zealand leading to chilly and showery weather.

Looking back at Easter weekend, MetService can confirm that after the sunny start to Easter, the low-pressure system brought the expected severe weather, delivering over 200mm of rain to the ranges of Westland and gusts of over 100km/hr to Wellington Airport. Additionally, the system provided some relief for farmers in dry areas. Meteorologist Andrew James comments, “Parts of Northland and Nelson both received around 20mm of rain over the weekend. Snow can be seen on the hills across the South Island, and alpine passes were affected too, with the Crown Range Road and Homer Tunnel both receiving a couple of centimetres overnight, as well as a dusting for Lindis Pass.”

Looking ahead to the short working week, these southwesterlies have brought cooler air, and many Kiwis will have noticed chilly temperatures this morning. The temperatures stay around the low end until winds turn to the northwest around Friday. “Christchurch can expect morning temperatures of 3C on Tuesday and Wednesday, rising to 6C for Thursday and Friday. The change will be more noticeable in the North Island however. In the capital, Friday’s overnight low comes in just 1 degree less than Monday’s high of 14C. It’s a similar story right across the North Island.” James explained.

Wind from the southwest also brings showery conditions to those exposed to that direction. Auckland, Taranaki and Buller should all expect on and off showers this week. A front on Thursday brings a period of frequent showers to western parts of both islands, including Northland. This will be welcome news for farmers. Following this front, winds then gradually swing to the northwest over Thursday, dragging down warmer air from the northern Tasman sea and lifting temperatures before a front brings another spell of wet weather on Friday.

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