12 Noon Update

Well, that cold southerly we talked about a couple days ago has definitely moved in with temperatures well down on earlier this week.

The cold south or south west wind is blowing strong across much of the country with all our biggest cities, except oddly our “windy city” Wellington, receiving gusts up to 60km/h and winds averaging around 40km/h.  Some of the islands are Auckland are recording winds closer to gale force.

Cold air is moving up New Zealand today and the weather forecast for many regions is “windy and cold”.

Temperatures are hovering between 8 (Invercargill) and 16 (Whangarei) across the country with most centres around the 12 to 14 degree mark.  However coupled with wind chill temperatures will be feeling more like 6 or 7 degrees for places like Auckland and Christchurch.

The southerly is expected to cover all of New Zealand for the remainder of the weekend but will ease a fair bit during Sunday.  

Warmer weather is also in the forecast – a shift to north westerlies will take place over southern New Zealand tomorrow afternoon and night.

Earlier update:

Now as yesterday’s front (that created Cambridge’s F0 or F1 tornado) moves off the North Island’s east coast a small area of low pressure will develop…as that low drifts out over the Pacific Ocean (off the Gisborne/Hawkes Bay coast) it will take energy from the open waters and deepen.  Deepening low off shore means strengthening winds over land…and because the low is to the east of us, we’ll be getting a strengthening westerly or sou’westerly. 

Across New Zealand the weather forecast looks mixed as that cold front moves northwards today.   As the front moves up the country (weakening as it heads north) it’ll bring a colder south west or southerly change.  Showers will be more frequent in southern and western areas and the coldest weather will be in southern and eastern facing regions.

By Sunday southerlies will affect much of the country so daytime highs will be down by up to 10 degrees for some regions from their peaks this week – for example in Napier where it was 24 earlier this week but likely to only be 14 tomorrow. 

In the South Island on Sunday winds will shift more westerly ahead of our next system early next week.