Election day weather: Severe gales, heavy showers to soak voters this Saturday

In Auckland, rain will develop throughout the day while the city sits on a relatively mild 19C high. Photo / Michael Craig

Severe gales are forecast around the country for election day, with heavy showers also tipped to soak voters in the main centres.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said, “People should get out and vote early because generally, the weather around the country is not looking great.”

“You don’t want to be lining up and being battered by the wind. The rain is firstly going to fall on the West Coast, and it will move up the North Island in the afternoon,” he said.

In Auckland, rain will develop throughout the day while the city sits on a relatively mild 19C high.

Boing! An Australian air mass (🦘) will hop across the Tasman, springing warm air into New Zealand from Wednesday-Saturday...

It will be as much as 10˚C above average in some regions on Thursday & Friday, feeling more like summer.

A substantial cool-down will follow on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/hkwRPZvuPb

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) October 3, 2023

Heavy showers in Wellington should clear in the afternoon, but northwesterly winds will remain strong. Saturday’s high is forecast at 16C.

Conditions in Christchurch will stand out - a fine 21C day is forecast, with strong northerlies becoming lighter later in the day.

In Dunedin, meanwhile, showers should clear to fine skies and fresh southwesterlies, with a high of 16C forecast.

MetService warned of severe gales in exposed areas of the Hawke’s Bay south of Hastings, the Tararua District, Wairarapa and Wellington.

💥 El Niño is here! And so is the Oct-Dec climate outlook:

🌬️ Rounds of strong, potentially damaging westerlies

🎢 A temperature roller coaster, from well above average to well below average

☀️ A drying trend in the north/east, wet in the south/west

🔗 https://t.co/kTI2rM0DJp pic.twitter.com/f2mAIWdZtA

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) September 29, 2023

Canterbury and Marlborough will also be at risk of gales in exposed places, MetService’s severe weather outlook said.

The South Island’s West Coast could see bursts of heavy rain on Saturday as the front responsible for the wet weather slams into the country.

Ferris described the coming weather system as “a big band of rain” which should move quickly over the country.

“Because [recent weather systems] are moving quickly, they are packing those strong winds. People will need to keep an eye out. We do have that risk of severe weather, so people will want to keep up with that if they have weekend plans,” he said.

In the meantime, Thursday is looking “generally pretty good”, Ferris said, while Friday will see the onset of rain further south.

“There will be some wet weather around the West Coast and central areas of North Island [on Thursday] - not too much though, it’s generally more settled than Friday,” he said.

Auckland has a forecast high of 17C on Thursday with partly cloudy conditions and isolated light showers. Southwesterlies will turn strong in the afternoon.

Friday will see a small jump in temperatures to 18C but the day will remain partly cloudy. Looking forward, Sunday and Monday should be fine and hit 20C.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.