Heavy showers in Wellington should clear in the afternoon, but northwesterly winds will remain strong. Saturday’s high is forecast at 16C.
Conditions in Christchurch will stand out - a fine 21C day is forecast, with strong northerlies becoming lighter later in the day.
In Dunedin, meanwhile, showers should clear to fine skies and fresh southwesterlies, with a high of 16C forecast.
MetService warned of severe gales in exposed areas of the Hawke’s Bay south of Hastings, the Tararua District, Wairarapa and Wellington.
Canterbury and Marlborough will also be at risk of gales in exposed places, MetService’s severe weather outlook said.
The South Island’s West Coast could see bursts of heavy rain on Saturday as the front responsible for the wet weather slams into the country.
Ferris described the coming weather system as “a big band of rain” which should move quickly over the country.
“Because [recent weather systems] are moving quickly, they are packing those strong winds. People will need to keep an eye out. We do have that risk of severe weather, so people will want to keep up with that if they have weekend plans,” he said.
In the meantime, Thursday is looking “generally pretty good”, Ferris said, while Friday will see the onset of rain further south.
“There will be some wet weather around the West Coast and central areas of North Island [on Thursday] - not too much though, it’s generally more settled than Friday,” he said.
Auckland has a forecast high of 17C on Thursday with partly cloudy conditions and isolated light showers. Southwesterlies will turn strong in the afternoon.
Friday will see a small jump in temperatures to 18C but the day will remain partly cloudy. Looking forward, Sunday and Monday should be fine and hit 20C.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
