A front pushes northwards over the South Island during today then onto the North Island overnight, preceding the front is a strong northwesterly airflow then changing cold southwest in behind. A cold southwesterly airflow for New Zealand on Thursday, another front although a bit weaker moves onto the lower South Island late morning then northwards. Anticyclonic conditions on Friday with a cold southwesterly airflow in the east easing away.

Wednesday

Blue – Heavy rain for the West Coast of the South Island, easing from the south afternoon on wards. Rain moving onto the western North Island later in the evening or overnight with a chance of heavy falls.

Showers about Canterbury (mainly coastal) may be heavy for a time in the evening before easing overnight, a chance of small hail too.

Purple – Strong northwesterlies about inland Canterbury / Marlborough (a chance of gale gusts), easing from mid to late afternoon. Strong to gale northwesterly winds through Cook Strait ease overnight.

Thursday

Blue – A cold start about the inner South Island, getting down to 0 or -1 at dawn.

Purple – South to southwesterly winds will be brisk to strong about coastal parts of New Zealand as indicated by the purple shaded areas below. Winds may gust to gale about coastal Southland and Otago, also Banks Peninsula however not till evening.

Friday

Blue – A cold start about the inner South and North Islands, not too cold though. Sitting around -1 to +1 degrees celsius around dawn.

Purple – Brisk to strong south to southwesterly winds about eastern coastal areas ease during the day.

– 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