Very little rain relief for dry eastern areas

Very little rain relief for dry eastern areas

The lack of rain in eastern areas so far this October is set to continue this weekend. Many eastern places are tracking well below their average rainfall for October, due to the high frequency of westerlies over New Zealand in the last two weeks. "Christchurch averages about 50mm of rain for October and so far they have only received 0.4mm. The eastern North Island has also been dry with less than 5mm recorded in Gisborne and Napier, " said Metservice Meteorologist Stephen Glassey.

A couple of fronts are expected to move over the South Island this weekend;however most of the rain is expected to fall in the west and south. The fronts weaken as they move onto the North Island. "Canterbury and Marlborough could see a few showers on Saturday with a brief southerly, but very little in the rain gauge. Hawkes Bay and Gisborne probably won't see anything at all," commented Glassey.

Strong northwesterlies ahead of these fronts are also expected to affect many areas from Friday. A Watch for severe gales on Friday has already been issued for parts of Canterbury, Otago and Southland. People in these areas are advised to keep up to date with the latest forecasts in case any part of this Watch is upgraded to a Warning. There is also a possibility of Warnings or Watches for other areas as the weekend progresses.

Looking further ahead, these fronts are followed by a southwest flow during the first half of next week. This is likely to bring a few showers,but once again mostly to western areas.

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, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com.

ends

© Scoop Media