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SunLive – Severe weather expected in New Zealand next week

SunLive – Severe weather expected in New Zealand next week

Another large area of ​​low pressure is developing west of New Zealand, which will bring severe weather to New Zealand next week.

According to WeatherWatch.co.nz, this weather will mainly affect the South Island, but there are also more localised risks for the North Island.

“The low pressure area itself is not a ‘storm’ – it is large and quite ‘lazy’ and is surrounded by two controlling high pressure areas,” the weather service said in its latest update.

“The high pressure zone to the east of New Zealand is holding this low pressure area and causing warmer/moist air to move over the country, while the high pressure zone to the south of New Zealand is injecting the subantarctic part of the winter air into this low pressure area (and into southern New Zealand).

“The southern high pressure is also creating a ‘squash zone’ of south-easterly winds over the southern part of the South Island towards Tuesday as it interacts with the low pressure area over the Tasman Sea.”

According to WeatherWatch, the worst weather conditions will be felt from Monday evening into Thursday morning, with the coldest air reaching the South Island on Tuesday/Wednesday.

“Many other places are warmer than normal further north, thanks to the northerly current. In some places it is several degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, especially with the night temperatures.

“The mix of milder than normal, wet/humid air from the north will combine with colder air moving in from the south of New Zealand – this process could bring heavy snow to parts of the South Island (mainly Otago and South Canterbury for the hills and mountain ranges). The low pressure will also bring heavy rain to other areas further across the country.”

According to WeatherWacth, some farms at higher elevations (above 300 or 400 meters) could see significant snowfall.

WeatherWatch.co.nz No snow is expected at sea level at the moment, or on a large scale in the main centres, but in some places the chance of rain turning to snow is small and it won’t take long for this to happen suddenly, such as around Dunedin.

WeerWatch.co.nz’s The biggest concern over the past week has been for farms/livestock and people traveling (especially by road and air).

“With the lambing season now underway in parts of New Zealand, the wet, windy and cold weather could prove deadly.

“Our newest Application And LandelijkWeer.co.nz both have windchill graphs, hourly, 10 days ahead – for all NZ locations. When it rains with windchill around 0, that’s a tough situation for newborn animals.”

According to WeatherWatch, the ‘warmest’ part of the day (i.e. early afternoon) will see the ‘feels like’ temperature drop to 0 degrees or lower in some places in Southland, Otago and Canterbury over the coming week.

“If it also rains, this is miserable weather for livestock, especially newborn animals. Although lambing is at its peak in September, it starts as early as July.

“Severe storm winds may also occur in exposed parts of the southern part of the South Island, making conditions even more difficult for animals.”

TRIP

Air travel and highways are also likely to be affected this week, particularly in the lower South Island and the mountainous areas, but other regions could be affected, according to WeatherWatch.

“Snow at higher elevations is the biggest concern for highways, while heavy rain and low clouds/poor visibility and perhaps even storms at lower elevations are a concern for airports/aircraft.

“There are a lot of moving parts to all of this – as our weather video from Friday indicated – but severe weather warnings are now being issued by Meteorological Service and will likely increase later on Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday.”

WeatherWatch.co.nz will announce more details in a weather video around lunchtime on Monday.

“Not every region will experience severe weather conditions. Some regions will see only wet, mild and cloudy conditions over the coming week. The South Island is most at risk, but parts of the North Island will also be affected.”

The weather maps below show how the system is currently moving and what people can expect.