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."

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ENDS

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