MetService is warning most of the country is heading into a “fairly volatile looking weather week”, with the first of two systems hitting New Zealand today.
Head of weather news Heather Keats said much of New Zealand will be impacted, with a vast number of significant orange warnings for both heavy rain and northwest gusts issued on Sunday.
“We’re talking gusts up to 130km/h for the Canterbury high country and the foothills of the Canterbury Plains, as well as Wellington, Wairarapa, and the Tararua district,” she said.
“120km/h for Otago, for the deep South, and for Marlborough.”
“The heavy rain is expected to be the most significant for the western side of the Alps, as per usual, however, there will be spill over into the headwaters of the Canterbury and Otago lakes and rivers.”
Heavy rain warnings stretch from Fiordland to parts of Marlborough.
But that was not the worst of it, with “an even more impactful weather system arriving on Thursday,” Keats said.
There would be more warnings issued closer to the time, she said.
“The potential is there for this to be a highly impactful event.”
“Gale northwesterlies tied in with a very significant front and a deep low pressure system to the far south of the country which will bring cold southwesterlies. Thursday will be a big day in the south and for central New Zealand.”
“On Friday, that front will move over the North Island, it is weakening, but still some wet and windy weather to track with it,” Keats said.
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