People in the South Island are being warned to prepare for a wet and windy Saturday, with heavy rain and strong gusts expected.
MetService has issued a heavy rain watch for parts of the South Island, and a strong wind watch for the Canterbury High Country into Sunday.
It followed severe downpours two weeks ago, which prompted three regions to declare a State of Emergency.
MetService meteorologist Heather Keats told Breakfast a new active low pressure system moving in from the Tasman Sea, would “deteriorate weather for the weekend quite significantly”.
“So as it moves off the Tasman and approaches the South Island, you’re [going to] have some heavy rain preceding that low and also some gale nor-westers that will really start to ramp for the South Island for the second half of Saturday, and then it will be the North Island’s turn.”
She said there were currently only watches issued for the South Island, but that the heavy weather would move north on Sunday.
“We’ve got heavy rain for the Tasman Ranges, Buller, the ranges of Grey and Westland Districts. Also the head waters of the Canterbury and Otago rivers and lakes and parts of Fiordland.
“The rain comes in off the Tasman, then hits the West Coast and it just kind of builds over the Alps.
“And then for the eastern side of the South Island, with the system like this, it’s the standard nor-westerly. So we’ve got a northwest, a severe strong wind watch for Canterbury High Country, and so those gale nor-westers will ramp up overnight Saturday and into the early hours.”
Keats said despite the rain forecast, there would be “quite mild” temperatures throughout the weekend.
“We are gonna see some well above average [temperatures] for the weekend.
“So if you look at the North Islands overnight kind of Saturday, you’re looking at pretty much most places sitting in the mid teens, even Nelson, Blenheim, Westport, Greymouth, they hover around 13C or 14C. Kaikōura set to hit 20C on Saturday, so not bad.”
Full list of weather watches
Heavy Rain Watch
Ranges of Tasman northwest of Motueka – 12hrs from 9pm Sat, 17 May – 9am Sun, 18 May
Buller – 12hrs from 9pm Sat, 17 May – 9am Sun, 18 May
Ranges of the Grey District – 12hrs from 7pm Sat, 17 May – 7am Sun, 18 May
Ranges of the Westland District – 12hrs from 4pm Sat, 17 May – 4am Sun, 18 May
Headwaters of the Canterbury Lakes and Rivers – 10hrs from 6pm Sat, 17 May – 4am Sun, 18 May
Headwaters of the Otago Lakes and Rivers – 12hrs from noon – midnight Sat, 17 May
Fiordland north of Doubtful Sound – 14hrs from 9am – 11pm Sat, 17 May
Strong Wind Watch
Canterbury High Country – 9hrs from 6pm Sat, 17 May – 3am Sun, 18 May
