A Wet Week Ahead for the West of the South Island

The heavy rain and thunderstorms seen over the west coast of the South Island this morning with an active front is a signal of things to come for the rest of the week. While the rest of the country also received a dose of rain with this front (localised thunderstorms also affected western coasts north of Taranaki this morning) the weather outlook for regions outside of the South Island’s western coasts is decidedly drier.

“The week ahead promises more rain for the west of the South Island with westerlies prevailing (winds flicking northwest then south west) through the entire week, meaning any fronts moving over the country will deliver their rain almost exclusively to those regions,” April Clark MetService meteorologist described.

Another active front is forecast to move north of Fiordland on Tuesday, delivering another period of rain to the entire country, and gale force winds to exposed places east of the Southern Alps, Tararua and Ruahine Ranges. Similar to today (Monday), briefly heavy rain is likely with the front for the west of the South Island with a risk of localised thunderstorms forecast http://info.metraweather.com/e/60812/AllWarnings/ftdmtm/690844208.

“Once this second front has cleared the North Island late Tuesday, the North Island and regions east of the Alps will remain relatively dry with only strong winds at times likely to ruin an otherwise settled Autumn weather.

Clark added, “As the clean-up continues in Auckland, it will be a relief that, though breezy conditions continue into this week, no severe weather is signalled for the region for the rest of the working week”.

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