Snatch of summer for Easter
The east coast is the place to be over the Easter Weekend, with one lucky spot set to hit a summery 27C on Sunday. And with last year’s Easter travel cancelled due to the nation’s Covid19 level 4 lockdown, roads this weekend are expected to be extra busy.
MetService forecaster Sonja Cooper said Good Friday should start off relatively fine for the upper North Island, with a southerly change creeping up the country, bringing slightly cooler-than-average temperatures.
Similar conditions are in store for Saturday before a northwest flow arrives on Sunday, bringing buckets of rain to the South Island’s West Coast but sunshine and warm conditions to the east.
Kaiko¯ura is looking the pick of the bunch currently, with a balmy high of 27C on Sunday, and slightly cooler elsewhere on the east coast.
The North Island’s east coast should hover around the mid 20s over Sunday and Monday, with the Coromandel, Auckland and Northland all around the low 20s.
Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency is predicting an extra busy Easter on the roads this year after last year’s lockdown disruptions.
“Please be patient when driving this Easter, so everyone can relax and enjoy their holiday,” Auckland operations manager Rua Pani said.
The agency encourages people to use the online journey planner tool which shows predicted traffic flows for popular routes in travel hotspots during the Easter period, based on travel patterns from previous years.
The roads around Northland are likely to be busy, especially on State Highway 1 through Puhoi between 2.30pm and 5.15pm today, and 9.15am and 3.15pm tomorrow.
Returning on Monday, it will be busiest between 10am and 4.30pm.
For those heading south from Auckland through Manukau on SH1, the busiest times are between 2pm and 6pm today, and between 10am and 2pm tomorrow.
Returning on Monday, the motorway is expected to be busiest from 1pm to 5pm.
“Congestion and delays are inevitable in peak times, but if everyone leaves plenty of time for their journey, drives to the conditions and plans ahead before leaving home, the worst of the frustrations can be eased and everyone can concentrate on arriving safely at their destination,” Pani said.
Meanwhile, Auckland’s rail network will be closed from tomorrow until Monday as KiwiRail carries out major upgrade work.
Buses will replace trains on all lines from the first service tomorrow to the end of service on Monday.