Many have been asking for this for months – a change in New Zealand’s weather pattern away from sub-tropical rain events and into a more westerly driven pattern. While this set-up means more showers for western and southern NZ, it will see a drier pattern emerge across most of eastern and northern NZ – regions that have been saturated this year so far.

The Southern Ocean is especially stormy this year too – which means our milder westerly flow will, once or twice each week, have a burst of colder southerly air and snow into the ranges and mountains, followed quickly by more westerlies (as we’ve seen in southern NZ over the past 24 hours!).

The long weekend in NZ will see a few showers along western regions (including as far north as Auckland) but plenty of long dry spells. Despite shower risks most days in the western North Island, the total accumulation isn’t that much in the top half.

Driest weather will be in the north and east of both islands.

A colder surge on Sunday will bring some snow and rain/showers to the South Island – but a bigger cold snap is expected around Wednesday next week bringing snow, wind and wintry showers to lower levels.

In Australia there isn’t much to talk about – with high pressure dominating it means colder nights, mild days and plenty of dry weather. However a cold front will brush SA, VIC and TAS this Saturday – reaching the South Island of NZ on Sunday.

**Programming Notes:
– Our video editor is away this week so our videos don’t have the usual intro/editing. Back to normal next week!
– We have NO VIDEO this Friday July 14 due to Matariki public holiday in New Zealand. We’ll see you again next week!