Windy Windy Windy
7 September 2012
Windy Windy Windy
Gale or severe gale west to northwest winds are expected to continue on and off through the weekend and into Monday.
"The first major westerly episode of spring has a few more days' life in it yet," commented MetService Media and Communications Meteorologist,Daniel Corbett. "Of course, not everywhere will be continuously windy over the next few days. But an unusual aspect of this situation is the possibility of wind storms in lots of places at the same time."
For the next day or so, the west to northwest winds should continue to bring quite warm air onto the country, with mild overnight minimums, and daytime temperatures in eastern areas around the 20C. mark. "However Sunday is expected to be colder, especially over the South Island," said Corbett. "We're expecting snow down to about 400 metres in Fiordland from late Saturday, and this could spill over into the Canterbury high country and Southern Lakes areas on Sunday."
Significant rainfalls are also expected over the north and west of the South Island, over the central North Island high country and the Tararua Range this weekend.
"To sum things up, we're dealing with a very dynamic weather situation," explained Corbett. "The last few days have kept MetService's meteorologists very busy and the next few days look as though they will too. There are Severe Weather Watches and Warnings in effect for many areas."
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ENDS