The wintry assault on New Zealand will return on Friday as 2 more cold fronts deliver heavy, squally, showers to the nation’s west coast.  Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says the front will arrive on the South Island’s West Coast tonight and will race up the country to reach Auckland during the morning.  “More gales, more heavy downpours, more hail and the risk of an isolated thunderstorm for everyone from the West Coast to Northland, especially Taranaki”.

“Today has been slightly warmer over the country but tomorrow’s front will see a further drop in temperatures”.

And a second front overnight Friday and into Saturday morning will see a repeat performance with snow again settling on the Desert Road. “Gales could create white out conditions so motorists need to be up to date with the latest weather and roading information”.  The front will also continue to fire heavy showers into the North Island’s west coast and inland to the ranges.

Temperatures this weekend are expected to plummet behind the fronts as the winds shift from south west to a colder south east.  “This means the east coast will feel a real bite in the air with places like Dunedin and Christchurch lucky to see temperatures about 8 degrees this weekend.  It’ll also bring a significant chill to the air in Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne”.

The predicted colder conditions will come on the tails of a particularly mild day in the south.  Richard Green, South Island weather analyst, say’s it’s mild and sunny in the Garden City today.  The temperature has been around 17 degrees this afternoon.

Meanwhile winds gusting to gale force are continuing to blast across much of the North Island with Auckland consistently receiving gusts over 80km/h today.  “Tomorrow those winds will increase and we could see isolated gusts to 120km/h across exposed North Island regions”.