Hot temperatures and sunshine for many this week

Monday 21 November 2016

MetService News Release
Monday 21 November 2016

Hot temperatures and sunshine for many this week

Sunshine is expected for most parts of New Zealand during the first half of this week, with hot temperatures for many. Maximums in the high twenties, and possibly even thirty degrees, are expected for eastern parts of New Zealand on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“High pressure is sitting just to the northwest of New Zealand, bringing us mostly sunny weather for the first half of this week,” said MetService Meteorologist Claire Flynn. “By Tuesday, this high pressure will direct a dry northwest flow over southern and central New Zealand.”

Flynn explained that northwesterly winds mean that the air arriving in eastern areas will have travelled over the mountain ranges, which causes it to dry out and warm up. This is called the Foehn Effect, and is the reason that temperatures are heating up in the east this week. Dunedin is expected to get up to 27C on Tuesday, while Timaru is looking at 28C. On Wednesday, Napier and Christchurch are predicted to reach 28C, while a high of 30C is forecast for Blenheim.

“A southerly change moving up the South Island on Wednesday will begin to cool things down, though temperatures are still expected to get hot in northeastern parts of the South Island before the southerly change arrives,” Flynn noted.

The southerly change was also expected to bring rain to western parts of the South Island, and scattered rain to Southland and Otago on Wednesday. Looking ahead to Thursday, a low approaches New Zealand from the Tasman Sea, causing cloud to increase across both islands. On Friday, the low is expected to skirt to the south of us, but it extends a front across the country, bringing a period of rain to western areas and scattered rain to the east.

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