Spring is in the Air

31-Aug-2004

Spring is in the Air

MetService meteorologists are forecasting some warming northwest winds to arrive just in time for the start of September. Temperatures are expected to reach the mid teens in most places on Wednesday and rise to the high teens in Coastal Canterbury - the first warm day in more than a week.

"The cold hand of winter had us firmly in its grasp for most of late August", commented MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt. "However there now seems to be a change in the weather pattern, with more mobility, more fronts and fewer frosts." McDavitt went on to say that although September is the first month of Spring, nights are still slightly longer than the days.

"It won't be until after the equinox on 23 September that the longer days will allow the warmth to settle in. Between now and then we are still likely to have a few snowy southerly wind changes - such as the one forecast for later this week, allowing snow to settle down to 400 metres in parts of Otago and 600 metres in parts of Canterbury on Thursday night".

With the northwest winds comes heavy rain. MetService has issued warnings for Fiordland, for Westland as far north as Otira, and for the headwaters of the rivers and lakes of Otago and Canterbury from Lake Wakatipu to the Waimakariri River forecasting heavy rain until early Wednesday. Latest details are available at the www.metservice.co.nz web site.

ENDS

© Scoop Media