The Looney Tunes character “Speedy Gonzales” could often be heard shouting “¡Ándele!, ¡Ándele!” (Spanish for “Go on, Go on!”) as he sped off to torture Sylvester or some other cat.  Don’t expect our incoming low next week to be shouting “¡Ándele!, ¡Ándele!”.  But it’s not going to hang around for a week either like this last one has.

It’s also not going to be as strong as this last one was when it first got started.

It will be big though.  As it crosses the Tasman and arrives on New Zealand’s shores Tuesday morning, it will be controlling the weather across the country.

The rain associated with this low will likely be confined to the North Island and upper South Island on Tuesday.  A few light showers could spread across the NI during the day.  Most of the rain is expected to arrive after sunset.

On Tuesday night and Wednesday, the rain will start to spread across the upper half of the South Island.  The North Island will still be in rain as well.  Heavy rain is possible about the northern tip of the South Island late Tuesday night.  The heavy rain threat is then expected to move south toward Christchurch overnight Tuesday into through the day on Wednesday.

During this low’s visit, it looks like the lower half of the South Island should remain dry.

By Thursday morning, the centre of the low should move off our eastern shores and head out to sea.  Some bands of light showers may linger in its wake.  But most areas will see the weather start to clear.

Homepage image/  Tuesday am weather map from Weathermap.co.nz

By WeatherWatch Analyst Howard Joseph