Mother Nature isn't showing any signs of relaxing, with an unsettled and cooler period of weather on the way for the first week of the School Holidays.
While a ridge of high pressure covers the North Island today, an active trough moves onto the South Island, preceded by a period of heavy rain in western parts. The arrival of this trough also brings northwesterly gales to southern and central New Zealand. A number of Severe Weather Warnings and Watches have been issued for this feature, and are available at:
www.metservice.com/warnings/home
As the trough makes its way onto the North Island on Friday, it is expected to slow down as a low begins to form northwest of the country,causing rain to last into Saturday for northern regions. "If you live in the upper North Island it would be a good idea to plan some indoor activities for Saturday", commented MetService Meteorologist Peter Little.Further south, a narrow ridge looks to clear the rain from Wellington for the Super Rugby Final."It looks as though weather conditions will allow for running rugby, as a dry pitch is expected and not much wind by Wellington standards. Spectators attending the match will need to dress for a temperature of around 9 degrees", added Little.
Over the South Island, a brief respite in the weather this week is broken by a cold front on Saturday. The front brings another period of rain to the West Coast and far south, and is followed by cool showery southwesterlies. This disturbed southwesterly flow persists over the country through Sunday and Monday, then turns southerly and much colder on Tuesday and Wednesday. "This change in the direction of the flow is expected to push showers into eastern areas, and folk across the country will notice more of a wintery chill in the air towards the middle of next week", said Little.
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