Winter heads north

Winter has arrived in the South Island and it's heading north today and Thursday. Last night heavy hail pounded Christchurch and parts of Canterbury while snow fell on the hills around Dunedin...in fact our Dunedin Weather Watch reporter Callum Procter says the snow is still falling over the hill suburbs this morning. Strong to gale southerlies blew up up the east coast however are starting to ease this morning with gales only remaining around Kaikoura and Banks Peninsula.

All the action is now shifting to the North Island. If you live in Wellington then get used to that southerly...it's going to stick around for a few days yet. The gale force southerly is this morning gusting over 100km/h in the Capital. Highs over the next few days will be around the 10 and 11 degree mark with a wind chill much lower. Antarctica is making a direct flight to Wellington at the moment, coming straight in off the ocean.

The rain clouds are spiralling around Taranaki this morning and up the west coast and are heading towards Auckland. Showers, some heavy with hail, will spread up to Auckland and Northland this morning and early afternoon.

Meanwhile those showers will turn to snow over Central Plateau. As of 7:30am it was zero degrees in Waiouru - the high there today is just 3 or 4 degrees - so it's not going to take much to snow there. The Desert road may be affected by snow flurries throughout today or tonight.

The bitterly cold southerly flow will spread up the North Island's east coast as today progresses and could last until the weekend before finally dying out.

Cold air coupled with rain means snow is likely to fall on the ranges around Taupo, and a light dusting is also possible on the Kaimai and Gisborne ranges. With all this snow around, along with the Antarctic southerly, it means the air temperature will be sliced right across New Zealand.

In Auckland Thursday's high is likely to only be around 12 degrees. Highs in the mid single digits are possible in eastern and southern parts of the South Island with only a few regions around New Zealand perhaps making it into the teens - maybe the South Island's West Coast (sheltered by the Southern Alps) and also Bay of Plenty and Northland (just far enough north to miss the coldest air). Either way, it's going to be cold in most places.

So when will the sun return? I'm getting a lot of emails about this! At this stage a large high is predicted to move in from the Tasman Sea on Friday and Saturday and should last until next week. Northern and western regions will be the first places to notice the clearance and an easing of the cold winds. Of course a large high with mostly clear skies following a burst of Antarctic air means frosty weather is about to set in. For South Islanders the clearer skies will be welcome, even if the nights are cold, following the flooding rains recently.

We'll have all the extra updates on this wintry snap today at www.weatherwatch.co.nz so check in to see where the snow is falling, where the gales are blowing, and which regions have the nation's most extreme weather throughout the day.

On Friday I'll be writing about something we all want to know about - what the weather will be like for Queens Birthday weekend! I'll take a sneek peak at what we can expect from our last public holiday for several months...and a look at which regions will see sunny, dry, weather this weekend.

Philip Duncan

 

Pictured above: Tararua Ranges. Photo / Wairarapa Times-Age