The warmer than average weather across much of New Zealand is set to remain for the rest of October but there will be a colder change briefly this week, especially in the South Island.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says a southerly change later Wednesday will see Thursday and Friday’s daytime highs drop by over 15 degrees in some places, like Canterbury, and by around 10 degrees in Otago and Southland. 

At this stage Gore has a high of around 20 degrees on Wednesday (warmer than average) then only 10 degrees on Thursday (colder than average). (Average is around 13 degrees there for October).

The North Island gets some of the cool down but it basically fades out around Wellington and the eastern North Island. Wellington fades from highs in the late teens first half of this week to mid to low teens late week.

Hawke’s Bay is warmer than average for the rest of October by day, with the exception of Friday where the highs drop from being 19 to 25 degrees across the region to 15 or 16… but it bounces back to warmer than average by the weekend.

The western side of New Zealand isn’t really affected by this cooler change but the West Coast does get a cool down by the end of the week of a few degrees. The western North Island has almost no change in temperatures – in fact from Taranaki northwards some areas may be exposed to heavy downpours this weekend with sub-tropical connections.   This late week/weekend cloud cover and downpours in the upper half of the North Island will drop temperatures by 3 to 5 degrees but many areas will still be warmer than average.

The cooler change on the eastern side of the North Island fades out around Gisborne on Friday. Gisborne goes from 23 degrees on Thursday to around 16 on Friday but then back to around 20 by Saturday.

– Please note the temperatures in the map below are mostly coastal fringes – some areas inland are several degrees higher. We’re working to improve these maps further in 2019 to include more details.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz