Windsurfer Alan McIntosh braved the strong winds on Lake Pupuke. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Windsurfer Alan McIntosh braved the strong winds on Lake Pupuke. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Winter may have started off warmer than usual but we're starting to feel the bite now.
New Zealand has been thrashed by nasty weather all weekend and it's set to continue.
MetService said despite the front which welcomed bad weather to the country having moved on today, we'd still feel the pinch tomorrow.
"The cold air behind it is affecting us now," weather forecaster Paul Ngamanu said. "It's showery, getting colder and expected to stick around through tomorrow.
"We're expecting more snow through the southern parts tomorrow and it'll just gradually, slowly lift into Tuesday."
Timaru was the coldest spot in the country early this morning at -0.5C.
And heavy snow warnings are still in place for Fiordland, Clutha and Southland - including Stewart Island - from today until tomorrow evening.
In Fiordland, 25cm of snow is forecast to fall on top of what has already fallen at 400cm above sea level and 15-20cm to fall above 100m.
Elsewhere in Clutha and Southland, the largest accumulations of snow are expected at 400m above sea level where 20cm or more could fall.
There is a warning 10cm of snow could fall in a six-hour period in some places for both regions.
South Island snowfall forecast.
Key messages:
❄️ Accumulating snow to low levels (~100 m) ❄️ Higher elevations in Otago & Southland may see 40 cm+ by Monday ❄️ Snow to sea level parts of Southland & coastal Otago ❄️ Significant impact to livestock, travel & power pic.twitter.com/lML8sXQveE
In Auckland, the daytime temperature peaked at 14C today with showers, some heavy, rolling through all day.
Strong southwesterlies accompanied the showers with speeds reaching as high as the low-40km/hs.
Last night, Vector crews in Auckland were called out for a large-scale power outage which affected Pt Chevalier, Westmere and Ponsonby.
And as more brutal conditions were experienced today, Vector crews were readily monitoring the weather and were on standby just in case.
Head of network field services Marko Simunac said if the weather caused power lines to come down, Vector would remotely shut down power to that area as a public safety precaution until crews arrive on site.
"We remind people to stay away from damaged electrical equipment and report issues by phoning us on 0508 VECTOR," head of network field services Marko Simunac said.
Windy ➡️ Monday
To understand (un)certainty, we see how many times a speed is forecast.
We look at our ensemble modelling (in test), or when model is run 18 times at once, for upper NI.
🌬️ High risk 70+ km/h gusts 🌬️ Mod risk damaging gusts, (100+ km/h) west coastal areas pic.twitter.com/sKzUcRVAVP
"In the event that your power goes out, you can keep up to date with restoration work relevant to your specific address through our Outage Centre, available on vector.co.nz/outages."
Tomorrow, the peak temperature is set to be even lower than today at 12C following a cold night of just 7C.
Showers are tipped to continue through the night, some heavy with hail occasionally, before becoming less frequent towards tomorrow evening.
Gale force winds were expected to spread across the city overnight through until about 9am, easing out later in the day.
"We have a strong wind watch for Auckland, possibly gales could become severe in exposed places," Ngamanu said.
