A fine start but wet and windy to end the weekend

A fine start but wet and windy to end the weekend

The active weather of the past week will seem a distant memory as a quieter spell of weather, thanks to a passing anticyclone, takes shape for the first part of the weekend.

MetService Media and Communications Meteorologist Daniel Corbett commented,"The first part of the weekend will be ideal for the outdoor plans, but the second half will turn quite nasty as a deep depression slides across the South Island."

The fleeting anticyclone will get shoved quickly to the east of New Zealand as the deep low moves toward the lower South Island for the end of the weekend. The low will develop off the coast of New South Wales and undergo what is known as 'explosive cyclogenesis' (a rapid drop in pressure)in the Tasman Sea. Strong temperature contrasts to the north and south of this depression will help fuel the extremely rapid deepening of the surface low. This will in turn create a very tightly wrapped depression that will bring severe gales and spells of heavy rain, as well as large swells.

The spell of wet and windy weather will move onto the South Island from late Saturday night into Sunday. Fortunately, the low will then quickly weaken as it moves across the country. The weather system is expected to bring a bout of wind and a narrow band of rain as it reaches the North Island on Sunday night into Monday.

For Auckland Anniversary on Monday, this spell of wet weather could mean a damp day at first but becoming drier and brighter apart from a few afternoon showers about inland areas.

Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, @metservice on Twitter and at blog. metservice.com.

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