Wet weather for the lead up to Easter - 21 March 2016

Wet weather for the lead up to Easter - 21 March 2016

Monday 21 March 2016

A front sitting over the southwest of the South Island has been bringing heavy rain to Fiordland and parts of Westland over the past few days, with over 450 mm of rainfall recorded at Milford Sound since midnight Friday. North-eastern parts of the North Island have been seeing some showers scattered across the area, but it has been mainly fine elsewhere. This pattern is expected to continue into Tuesday, though rain in the southwest is expected to ease.

“Changes are on the way later in the week, however,” said MetService Meteorologist Claire Flynn, “with a pair of lows forming to the north of New Zealand expected to move southwards this week.”

The first low is expected to move past New Zealand to the west on Wednesday, dragging humid sub-tropical air down over the country. The second low is then expected to cross New Zealand on Thursday. These lows are likely to bring gale force winds to some exposed places in the northeast of the North Island from Wednesday through to late Thursday. Rain is also expected for the latter half of the week for most places, with heavy falls possible in the north and west of both islands on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Severe weather in the lead up to Easter has already been flagged in our Severe Weather Outlook on metservice.com,” Flynn explained. “As usual, we are keeping a close eye on these systems as they develop and move southwards, and Severe Weather Watches and Warnings will be issued if and when necessary.”

The low is expected to move away on Friday for the start of Easter weekend, with winds turning southerly. Showers should then gradually clear from most places on Good Friday and Saturday, though a few showers are expected to remain around the Nelson and Buller regions.

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