Unsettled and rainy weather is expected to kick off the long weekend across many parts of New Zealand, according to MetService forecasters.
As of Wednesday afternoon, wet weather was forecast for Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Waikato over the weekend, with heavy rain also affecting other regions.
MetService meteorologist John Law said it would be a “very different story to the weather we saw last weekend” with a “messy” picture across the country on Saturday.
Heavy rain was expected to move northwards, up the South Island throughout today and Thursday. Orange heavy rain warnings have been issued for much of Fiordland and the West Coast. Warnings were also issued for the Tasman and Nelson regions.
“Ahead of the heavy rain, northwesterly winds will strengthen, especially through the Canterbury High Country and around Cook Strait where strong wind watches have been issued,” according to MetService.
A strong wind watch has been issued for Wellington, Wairarapa, Marlborough Sounds, and Canterbury High Country over Thursday.
“With more unsettled weather on the cards, it looks set to be an unsettled start to the long weekend across many parts of New Zealand.”
‘Messy’ start to the long weekend — MetService
Heavy rain or showers are likely to affect many areas over Saturday, according to MetService’s severe weather outlook, with a large area of low pressure expected to cover the South Island, while a front moves eastwards across the North Island.
The forecaster expressed “high confidence” that northern Marlborough, Tasman, Buller, Grey and northern Westland will have rainfall reach warning criteria.
Meanwhile, moderate confidence extended to warning levels of rain in eastern Bay of Plenty, southern Marlborough and southern Westland.
The eastern South Island, from Canterbury through to northern and eastern Otago including Dunedin, also showed a moderate risk of heavy rain.
There was a “low confidence” for warning-level rain from Waitomo to Wellington, and across southern Otago, Southland and eastern Fiordland.
