A cold southerly change is arriving on Friday and the weekend – but how far north it goes really comes down to how much of an impact Cyclone Oma’s remnants may (or may not) have on New Zealand.

At this stage parts of the South Island are in for a significant cool down with highs dropping from the mid 20s this week to the low teens, possibly even around 11 or 12 at the weekend for some exposed southern areas.

In the eastern South Island and Dunedin has highs in the mid 20s to kick off this week, drops a little mid week then drops a lot by Friday and the weekend with highs of only 11 to 14 degrees.

Further north and Christchurch goes from the low 30s on Tuesday, to the mid to late 20s for the rest of the week up until Friday, when the southerly change moves in creating a much colder weekend potentially with highs in the very low teens.

Wellington goes from the low to mid 20s this week to mid teens this weekend.

The rest of the North Island may or may not be impacted – we do think the southerly will come in, but due to the huge uncertainty with Cyclone Oma it’s hard to know what will happen precisely just yet.  Either way, a large cooler southerly flow should be moving in to the New Zealand area by this Friday and the weekend – but if Oma directly comes in that will pull down very warm tropical air with it from the north.

If the two meet, then even bigger rain clouds may be generated over New Zealand.  There are a LOT of moving parts to this forecast so expect changes in forecast temperatures – as wind flows alter a bit in the forecasts in coming days. Keep checking your 10 day forecast for more details – especially the hourly data which may be helpful when planning things this weekend.

MID AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES FORECAST FOR TUESDAY (TOMORROW)

MID AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES FORECAST THIS SATURDAY:

– Maps by WeatherMap.co.nz

– WeatherWatch.co.nz