17 March 2014
A quieter week on the weather front
This week sees a return to more settled conditions as the remains of Cyclone Lusi moves away to the southeast of the
country. On Saturday, as Lusi tracked close to the west of the North Island, it produced 7 metre high seas along parts
of the Northland and Auckland eastern coasts, as well as wind gusts of 90km/h for many land areas in the north with
stronger gusts around the coast. As the system shifted further south, winds strengthened over the Central Plateau and
around the Taranaki coast, making a windy night for campers enjoying WOMAD.
On Sunday, Lusi remained just to the west of the country, with a strong northerly feed bringing rain into the Nelson
region, resulting in 200 to 300mm about the ranges and almost 80mm about Nelson City - the normal March average for the
city is 66mm. Lusi then tracked eastwards across the top of the South Island, bringing gales and gusts in excess of 110
km/h to Wellington overnight.
Elsewhere, rainfall figures were patchy in nature, Waikato being a perfect example. With a northeast flow on Saturday,
the Kaimai range proved an effective barrier to the rain. 24 hour rainfall figures across the region varied from 133mm
in Paeroa to a measly 4mm in Hamilton.
Rainfall totals in Christchurch were, thankfully, lower than the previous week but strong easterly winds did bring
another 35mm to the city during Sunday.
The week ahead is a quieter one with plenty of dry, fine weather which is not good news for the very dry parts of the
country who received no relief from Cyclone Lusi. A front expected to move north over the country is set to bring some
wetter weather to the West Coast. "On the whole this week is set to be dominated by high pressure" MetService
meteorologist John Law said "however, we will still find some southerly pushes bringing bursts of rain. Much of the rain
is destined for the West Coast and south of the South Island with the fronts weakening as they track further north."
Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings atmetservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, @metservice on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com.
ENDS