Rain looming for Easter holiday weekend

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The region’s weather outlook for Easter Weekend is starting to look decidedly “dicey” although the outlook is not yet set in stone.

Gisborne-East Coast residents planning a weekend away might want to take a hard look at MetService’s extended forecasts.

Various models, including the Global Forecast System, are coming into agreement, showing the weather deteriorating from next Friday on.

At this stage the models, including MetService’s, indicate a low positioned off or over Northland by next weekend, dragging moisture down from the north on to the top half of the North Island, down to the Bay of Plenty.

The speed and direction of the low will determine whether it delivers a dumping to the East Cape-Gisborne region.

MetService forecasts the weekend will open with southerlies and rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a 30 to 40 percent possibility of more than 10 millimetres of rain for each of those days.

The probability of a heavier rain event will depend on whether the low weakens or stalls in its track across the North Island.

Meantime, this coming week offers a couple of clear sunny days with a big high moving in from the Tasman Sea. Tuesday and Wednesday are the pick of the week.