Easing Trend For The Long Weekend

The possibility of heavy rain for the North Island rounds out the working week but MetService expects a drier and pleasant long weekend for most of New Zealand.

It has been a mixed bag of weather for the country this week and this trend continues over the next few days. An area of low pressure will bring somewhat widespread rain and possible thunderstorms to the North Island today (Thursday) and Friday, while the South Island is drier.

MetService meteorologist Luis Fernandes says, “It is a bit of a tale of two islands at the moment with the north getting soaked once again but a ridge of high pressure keeps the South Island mainly dry.”.

A Heavy Rain Warning has been issued for Hawke’s Bay and several Heavy Rain Watches are also in affect for the North Island until Friday. People are urged to keep up to date with these on the MetService website and mobile app.

The low pressure responsible for the wet weather tracks southward on Friday, spreading rain to Marlborough and northern Canterbury, while conditions start to improve over northern areas of the North Island. By Saturday, the low will be moving away to the east, giving way to a relatively pleasant long weekend for much of the country but showers will linger.

“New Zealand will be on the edge of a high pressure system this weekend, keeping us mostly settled but this isn’t quite enough to keep the rain entirely away as we still expect bouts of showery weather for most areas, especially for the north and east”, explains Fernandes.

Temperatures will remain near-average for this time of the year, and even tending slightly above normal for many areas. Most notable will be Central Otago’s maximum temperatures, which are forecast to peak close to 20 degrees this weekend. This is about 5 degrees above their normal for late September.

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