More frosty nights to come

MetService News Release
Thursday, 03 Jul 2014

More frosty nights to come

The switch between June to July has been a cold one with the air over the country arriving from the deep and much colder southern latitudes.

Showers are still set to skirt around the edges of New Zealand through Thursdayand Friday, clipping the likes of Banks Peninsula in the east and running up into Auckland and Northland in the west. With temperatures still set to remain in single digits in the south, a wintry feel will accompany the showers in Southland and Otago. "There's no mistaking the season" MetService meteorologist John Law said. "There's been snowfalls about the higher passes and the Desert Road and until the end of Friday, snow showers are likely down to around 400 metres in parts of Southland and Otago."

Road snowfall warnings are still in place for the Milford Road and the Desert Road until late Thursday. For many parts of New Zealand, there will still be pleasant spells of winter sunshine through the day and clear skies into the night. "Once the sun sets, temperatures are going to quickly drop away beneath those starry skies" Law commented. "Spots like the Central Plateau and inland parts of Canterbury are likely to see temperatures well below freezing and many places are going to wake up to a frosty Friday."

Over the weekend the cold southwesterly flow is expected to loosen its grip as a narrow ridge of high pressure moves across New Zealand bringing settled weather to most places. Although temperatures are forecast to gradually pick up into the start of next week in a north to northeast flow, MetService is watching the progress of the next trough which might be slow to come onto the country.

In addition, southwesterly swells of 4 to 5 metres along western coasts including Auckland and Northland, are expected to ease off through the weekend.

Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings atmetservice.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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