Herald NOW weather for Wednesday, August 6th 2025. Video / Herald NOW
New Zealand is in for a drenching as an active front moves across the country for the remainder of the week, bringing an icy drop in temperature with it.
Multiple heavy rain watches are currently in place in the South Island before the fast-approaching dumping, which is likely tohit most Kiwis.
MetService said there’s a definitive cold change behind this front, but it is unlikely to become “a great snow-making event”.
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer told the Herald rain is set to lash the South Island tomorrow, and the North Island can expect the wet weather to arrive from Friday morning.
The majority of it moves off the country by Friday evening but there will be a “very showery flow” into the weekend, Hillyer said.
Hillyer said most people will get some rain this week, with some areas more likely to receive heavier bouts of rain, such as the western parts of the South Island.
“The front that will be moving on to us tomorrow is coming up from the Southern Ocean. So that means it’ll be heading into southern areas first, like Fiordland and Southland and up through the South Island.
“The main rain band will be moving on a bit before midday tomorrow,” Hillyer said.
“Once that front sort of continues to move off to the east, it’s replaced by more showery conditions, and that’s what will be affecting us for much of the weekend.”
There is potential for a higher concentration of those showery conditions for eastern parts, such as Canterbury through to Wellington.
MetService said there is an associated low risk of thunderstorms from northern Fiordland to the Grey District over the next few days.
A heavy rain watch is currently in place for the headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers about and south of Arthur’s Pass from 4pm tomorrow until 5am Friday.
The headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers are also under a heavy rain watch from 11pm today until 8pm on Thursday.
Hillyer said winds are building before the front and are set to get strong around Fiordland.
New Zealand is set for a drenching as an active front moves across the country and lingers into the weekend. Photo / Michael Craig
“The winds, while they are strong, it’s not anything out of the ordinary for this sort of feature, and not anything that these areas don’t see pretty regularly with these fronts,” she said.
“We do definitely see a drop in temperature, particularly into the weekend, Saturday and into Sunday, and people will be feeling those chilly southerlies then.”
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