Wet and wild week ahead

Most New Zealanders would be wise to drag out the wet weather gear ready for the week ahead, with the South Island set to be hit with wild weather from tomorrow, before the rain travels north.

A heavy rain watch has been issued for the Westland District, south of Otira from tomorrow at 12am until Friday at 12am.

Periods of heavy rain are expected and the watch is expected to be upgraded to a warning today. Those in Fiordland can also expect a weather battering tomorrow, with a heavy rain watch issued from 4am until 10pm. A strong wind watch is also in place from 12am until 9pm tomorrow.

MetService meteorologist, Juliane Bergdolt, told Stuff a front is set to approach the South Island from the Tasman Sea and the wet and wild weather is looking to kick off from this evening.

That front will move west over the South Island and “ahead of that, we’re expecting the [north, northwest] winds to pick up”.

By early tomorrow morning, heavy rain is expected to hit areas around Fiordland as the front continues to make its way north over the South Island.

Quite slow moving, that front “spends a lot of Wednesday” in Westland around Hokitika, with heavy rain expected around the ranges. “It’s likely the rain watch will be upgraded to a warning on Monday,” she said yesterday.

There’s also “high confidence” of heavy rain in Westland, south of Greymouth and those in that area should watch out for a likely warning to come early in the week.

As the weather is expected to continue north, “a couple of low centres develop along the front as it heads to the North Island”, which means a risk of heavy rain for “much of the North Island” from Thursday.

Northland, down to Bay of Plenty and Taranaki should expect periods of heavy rain come Thursday which will continue to move across the North Island on Friday.

“Basically, it’s heavy rain for the South Island on Tuesday and Wednesday, and heavy rain for the North Island from Thursday,” she said.