King’s Birthday weekend weather: North Island to bask in 23C temperatures, sunny skies for most

A hail storm swept through West Auckland leaving locals stunned at golf ball size stones. Photo / Victoria Bidgood.

New Zealand is in for a golden spell across the upcoming long weekend with sunny with a sub-tropical jet stream bringing summer-like temperatures to parts.

That is good news for those lashed by the violent storm which caused power outages, flooding, road closures and flight cancellations on Wednesday.

MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor said the east of both the North and South Islands are forecast to experience warmer temperatures than normal for this time of year.

A warmer sub-tropical jet stream is set to blow in from the north bringing much milder air after a wintry snap brought snow to alpine passes and wild weather to the top of the country.

It will see temperatures hitting 20C and higher, with parts of Hawke’s Bay rising to 23C and Christchurch up to 21C.

Auckland and other northern regions will sit on a balmy 19C.

Meteorological winter starts... and the polar jet departs⁉️

After a few chilly, polar jet stream-influenced days ahead, a big change is on the horizon for early June.

Much milder air masses will affect New Zealand as the warmer sub-tropical jet stream blows in from the north 📈 pic.twitter.com/G9GzirBKyQ

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) May 27, 2024

O’Connor said weather in Auckland would be calm and settled with a chance of light westerly winds and a small chance of rain.

The region is expected to remain in the high teens throughout the weekend with Sunday being the hottest on 19C.

“Overall, a brighter sunnier weekend. In terms of a long weekend, it’s a good one,” O’Connor said.

Napier was likely to see the hottest temperatures across the long weekend with 20C forecast for Friday and Saturday rising to 23C.

At holiday hotspots in the top half of the North Island temperatures were forecast to remain steady in the high teens for most of the weekend.

Temperatures in Northland are expected to remain steady in the high teens throughout the weekend with Kerikeri and Paihia both hitting 20C on Friday.

Similar temperatures were forecast for the Coromandel, Thames and Whitianga both reaching 19C on Sunday.

In the south, Christchurch was forecast to leap from 12C today to 21C on Saturday followed by a crash back down to 13C on Sunday, while temperatures in Dunedin are set to reach 19C on Sunday before dropping to 13C on Monday.

On the west coast, a period of wet and windy weather is forecast with MetService issuing a heavy rain watch for parts of Westland on Saturday.

A strong wind watch was also issued for Queenstown Lakes District, Central Otago and Canterbury, Fiordland, Southland and Stewart Island from late Friday evening to early Saturday morning.

👀Turning to the South Island

📅A weather system from the west brings the next round of weather for the start of the long weekend, starting late Friday

🟡Watches have been issued for places expected to be the wettest and windiest🌧️💨 pic.twitter.com/f7ZRCIY6cX

— MetService (@MetService) May 29, 2024

Torrential downpours, damaging winds and marble-sized hail rolled through the upper North Island on Wednesday.

Foul weather grounded flights, stranding hundreds of passengers, and three Air New Zealand planes were struck by lightning, while the Auckland Harbour Bridge was closed due to high winds.

Winds reached 120km/h in certain exposed places.

The top half of the North Island counted 2123 lighting strikes from 6am Wednesday to 6am Thursday with Auckland seeing 994.

Large hailstones fell across Auckland when thunderstorms and high winds lashed the region.