A large wintertime high has brought settled weather to much of the country this week and continues to do so as it moves slowly eastwards over the next day or so. Many people will have awoken to frost on the ground at their place recently. This morning, light winds and clear skies over Auckland allowed fog to form, affecting the airport for a time. The mostly fine weather continues right across the country through into Saturday, the exception being the West Coast where a weak front is expected to bring a brief period of rain, then drizzle. However, the weather deteriorates before the end of the weekend, and the first half of next week looks unsettled too.
As the high move eastwards a frontal system over the Tasman Sea approaches,which brings a period of wet and windy weather to western places on Sunday."This front, preceded by strong northerlies, is well timed to blow out the candles for Wellington's Capital 150 Celebration, with a period of rain and northerly gales forecast for Sunday following a relatively fine Saturday for folk to enjoy the events," said MetService meteorologist Peter Little.Only brief rain is forecast for eastern areas on Sunday, and strong to gale northwesterlies could push daytime temperatures into the high teens in a few places.
As we head into the new week there is more rain and wind on the way, with another active front expected to bring heavy rain to northern and western New Zealand on Monday, along with strong to gale northwesterlies. "The news isn't good for sun seekers on Tuesday and Wednesday either, as a broad trough following the front allows showery weather to continue right across the country. With changing weather on the horizon, people are advised to keep up to date with forecasts and check if their region could be affected by severe weather associated with these frontal systems," commented Little.See http://www.metservice.com/warnings/home for severe weather information.
Lastly, for those following the Rugby Championship, it's looking like it'll be a damp pitch for the All Blacks game against the Springboks in Johannesburg early Sunday morning New Zealand time, with further showers forecast for the game.
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