KEY POINTS:
We seem to be in quite an unsettled period of weather right now, it started last Friday and shows no signs of easing anytime soon. The gale nor'westers - gusting up to 130km/h in exposed places in Southland today - are boosting temperatures significantly. At 8am it was already 21 degrees on Banks Peninsula and 19s and 20s are being reported right across the South Island. Those warm winds will head into the North Island's east coast today too and into tomorrow.
In Auckland that low cloud we have today will burn off later and then we're in for several windy days. The wind direction will be from the westerly quarter and will swing from north west to south west (very typical Spring direction). Aucklanders won't be feeling the same extremes in temperatures that other kiwis will have this week. Temperatures will be in the late teens for much of the week with warmer overnight lows too (than the past few nights which have been very chilly!).
Other regions will have far more extreme swings in the temperature. A southerly will move up the country Wednesday so centres that were 30 degrees yesterday (like Alexandra) will be down to more like 12 degrees as that moves through - and even colder in the wind.
This weekend isn't looking much better either with a large front moving over the country on Saturday with strong nor'westers for many regions. Again, gales are likely in southern and eastern areas with heavy rain moving up the west coast. By Sunday a cold southerly should clear showers in the north but again we'll all feel a chill in the air. Another chance that we might see some more lightning and hail (for those who love that stuff!).
This is typical October weather and, in fact, so far this October has been quite settled to October's in the past. November was incredibly settled last year - it really was the start of the droughts for many areas. I don't think this November will be the same, it feels like the "typical" spring weather has only just started so perhaps we'll have a more changeable November.
Philip Duncan
Pictured above: Backyard clothes drying. Photo / Nicola Topping
For the latest weather news keep up to date with The Radio Network's new Weather Watch Centre or the NZ Herald weather section.
