A northwesterly airflow increases over the South Island today while a weakening front lies over northeastern parts of the North Island. Still fairly tame across the North Island on Tuesday, a front sits over the lower South Island from early morning. Wednesday sees a fairly tightly wound deep low form over the South Island which could result in strong winds and a burst of heavy rain for some.

Monday

Blue – Rain about Gisborne this morning may be heavy however it quickly eases. Overnight some heavy rain moves into Fiordland.

Tuesday

Blue – Some heavy rain affects South Westland during the day due to a slow moving front, due to the slow nature of the front reasonable totals could be expected.

Purple – Northerly winds from afternoon become strong about the Cook Strait area. About some parts of the Southern Alps northwesterly winds are likely to be strong from afternoon.

Wednesday

Blue – Heavy rain for the West Coast of the South Island eases from afternoon as northwesterlies change southwest. There may be a period of heavy rain for the east coast of the South Island also from morning then easing in the afternoon.

Purple – As a tightly wound deep low moves over the South Island we see strong winds coming in all directions. For the West Coast we initially see strong northeasterly winds then changing strong southwest by midday.

Strong to gale northerly winds through Cook Strait ease in the evening.

Strong northwesterly winds develop by midday about North Canterbury for a time then at some point early to mid afternoon a strong southwest change pushes through Canterbury with gales likely near the coast. Southwesterlies ease in the evening.

– Please note, the idea behind this update is to focus on the main weather highlights, which is why not all regions are mentioned. 

For specific 10 day information for your city, town, rural community or island please see the 1500 forecasts on our homepage!

– Aaron Wilkinson, WeatherWatch.co.nz