After a wild 6 days along New Zealand’s west coast, including strong winds that reached 132km/h around Auckland last night, the stormy winter weather is now organising itself to blast the east coast.   A low will deepen in the Pacific Ocean over the next 24 hours delivering gales, heavy rain, snow and bitterly cold air from Christchurch to Gisborne.

“A bitterly cold southerly will develop by Sunday morning bringing Wellington’s high down to only 9 degrees. In the wind it’ll feel even colder, more like 4 or 5” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.  “There may well be snow on the Rimutaka Ranges too so motorists need to be aware of that”.

According to the Weather Watch Centre Christchurch will struggle to reach 7 tomorrow while a strengthening southerly will bring heavy showers and cold air across Napier and Hawkes Bay.

Duncan says he expects snow aross many of the mountains and ranges facing eastwards along the South Island and as far north as Hawkes Bay.

And the North Island’s west coast isn’t out of the woods yet either.  Over 300 lightning strikes have been reported in the past hour mostly around Northland, Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. 

Philip Duncan says Aucklanders will feel the cold too with highs of only 13 degrees for the weekend.