Winter to tighten its grip
MetService News Release
Thursday, 17
Jul 2014
Winter to tighten its grip
The cold southerly flow, which has chilled the country for the last few days, bringing clear skies for many western areas, but exposing eastern areas to rather volatile shower activity, weakens today as a narrow ridge of high pressure spreads over the South Island. With New Zealand sandwiched between two areas of low pressure, an unsettled weekend follows, with rain or showers at some point for most places.
An area of low pressure will cross the upper North Island during the weekend. A burst of heavier rain is expected about Auckland and Coromandel duringSaturday, and Gisborne, parts of the Bay of Plenty and the Kaimai Range on Sunday.
"Although accumulations are likely to be below the usual warning criteria for Northland, forecasters are conscious that any rainfall in this area is going to pose problems. For this reason, a rain warning may be issued for Northland for thiscoming Saturday, "commented meteorologist Liz Walsh.
Elsewhere, the cold southerlies rekindle and sweep showers through Canterbury from tomorrow, falling as snow above 500 metres. More widespread areas of rain or showers spread over the South Island during Saturday and the North Island into Sunday.
"Typically, from now until mid-August, we are entering the coldest time of the year, so watch out for snow to low levels, especially later in the weekend for our most southern regions," Walsh went on to say.
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