Weather: Wind, rain and snow to batter South Island, lower North Island

Almost all of the South and lower North Island can expect wild weather this week, with MetService warning of high winds and torrential rain.

An active front will move across the South Island today, bringing gale force winds to Marlborough and Wellington, and heavy rain from Fiordland through to Canterbury.

⛈ Heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms is moving onto the West Coast this morning

There are heavy rain warnings in force until early tomorrow https://t.co/qHyE5zzql5

Keep an eye on the rain radar here https://t.co/prKU7NLNY1

Lightning data courtesy of Transpower pic.twitter.com/dRjciagACh

— MetService (@MetService) March 19, 2023

MetService has issued a swathe of warnings and watches with heavy rain expected throughout today, and more gales moving in on Tuesday.

On Tuesday its likely rainfall will reach warning amounts for Westland, Southland, Otago and Canterbury. There is also high confidence that southwesterly gales will be severe for North Otago and Canterbury, especially the Banks Peninsula.

People are urged to keep an eye on the latest warnings as intense rainfall could lead to flooding and dangerous driving conditions.

A front moves onto the South Island today, bringing heavy rain to the west, and strong northwesterly winds.

Tomorrow a strong and cold southerly change moves up the east, bringing heavy rain to eastern areas and large southerly swells to eastern coastshttps://t.co/qHyE5zzql5 pic.twitter.com/eQI8hnGyrG

— MetService (@MetService) March 19, 2023

Otago and Canterbury could even see snow, as well as heavy rain. The Otago region excluding Clutha and Dunedin is forecast to see snow down to 1000 metres on Tuesday, with a heavy rain watch in place from 2am until noon.

It’s a similar story for the Canterbury high country between 7am and 7pm on Tuesday.

There is a low confidence in warning amounts of rain for Buller, Nelson, Marlborough and the North Island south of Waikato and Bay of Plenty apart from coastal Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.

Further north, Wellington can expect gales of up to 120km/h this evening through until Tuesday morning, and the Tararua Ranges are under a heavy rain watch.