Heavy Rain And Strong Winds Return To The South Island

Rain and strong winds spread up the South Island today with Severe Weather Warnings and Watches in place for several areas of the island. While the heaviest rain is forecast to impact the ranges of Westland and Fiordland the strongest winds are expected to the east of the main divide and a warning is in place for the Canterbury High Country.

MetService has issued Heavy Rain Warnings for the ranges of Westland south of Otira, and cautions that heavy rain is forecast to spread across to headwaters of Canterbury and Otago as well.

MetService Meteorologist John Law says, “A band of rain moves up and across the South Island today before weakening and lingering around the North Island later this week. The heaviest rainfall will be around the western South Island, but the eastern side of the ranges that will experience some of the strongest winds today, especially through the Canterbury High Country.”

One upside of the strong northwesterlies will be much warmer temperatures.

“The top temperatures today for places like Christchurch will be like chalk and cheese compared to the cold of last week. Highs today will reach 22C compared to just 9C last week,” says Law.

For the North Island, the week starts off generally cloudy in the west but there will be plenty of sunshine across the east for the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay.

“There’s a covering of cloud across the west of Te Ika–a–Māui / North Island but the hills and ranges are doing a great job stopping the cloud reaching the East Coast,” says Law.

Later this week high pressure rebuilds back across the South Island bringing about some quieter and drier weather while cloud and showers linger across the North Island. If you are looking for some drier weather to enjoy the school holidays, it’s a good week to stay up to date with the forecast.

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