KEY POINTS:
After a week of very hot summer weather the east coast of the country is in for a refreshing change. A southerly is moving up the coast today and has already brought temperatures down.
At 5pm yesterday Timaru was on 18 degrees with a strong southerly, after being close to 30 around noon. Further south it was 16 in Dunedin.
The cooler change will reach Wellington around lunchtime today and then Napier and Hastings this evening.
It's not dramatic and with the sun packing a wallop at the moment it's probably going to be pretty pleasant and refreshing once any showers have cleared on Sunday.
Rain from Taranaki to Napier will be a much welcome top up to water tanks across Taranaki.
Unfortunately Gisborne looks likely to be too far north for any real rain from this southern front, and too far south-west to get rain from this sub-tropical low that's moving well to the east of New Zealand. I'm watching the maps closely for you guys and as soon as I think I see rain I'll let you know.
It was another hot, stuffy, night over the upper North Island. The humidex (which calculates what the air temperature combined with humidity actually 'feels like' on your skin) was around 33 in Auckland yesterday afternoon.
Our sub-tropical low, while a long way out to sea, is certainly affecting us. It's like someone flicked on the humidity switch yesterday! A few drizzle patches and showers are likely for northern New Zealand - nothing to really help the water tanks here and I'm still unsure as to whether or not it will affect the cricket.
There's heavy rain off the west coast this morning and the clouds have certainly got darker since sunrise. Our latest data shows a jump from 10% to a 40% chance of showers in Auckland this afternoon.
So to recap - that front will slowly move up the country today, bringing some rain to central parts of New Zealand.
For those who wonder where central New Zealand is (quite a few assume I mean inland parts of both islands) I'm really talking from about Kaikoura to New Plymouth.
That low in the north will continue to blow humid easterlies in and plenty of cloud cover and a few spits of rain or drizzle patches for northern New Zealand...the day should be mostly dry though. And in the south of the country, from Dunedin southwards, skies will clear with that cool southerly change. Actually 14 is the high for Invers and Dunedin today...I'd say that's "cold" for summer actually!
- Philip Duncan
PHOTO: Elena Vesnina playing at the ASB Tennis Classic in yesterday's scorching weather. (Getty Images)
