Heavy rain expected this weekend

It looks as though we're in for another unsettled weekend of weather as a big low deepens out in the Tasman Sea. The low is expected to affect all of New Zealand across Saturday and Sunday and possibly into early next week.

A period of heavy rain and showers should cross northern New Zealand during Saturday/early Sunday. Could be a few rumbles of thunder too for places like Auckland and Northland. The rain is likely to be heavy again - but at this stage it's unlikely to bring torrential rain back in to Gisborne. Sunday looks to be the wettest day for the region.

In the South Island a cold south easterly flow is expected to develop in southern and eastern areas - continuing the spate of single digit highs there. Snow is likely to fall to relatively low levels and sleet is possible at night to low levels.

This cold snap is going to be great news for ski fields in both islands - the cold air will be moist so heavy snow is very likely right across the South Island and Central Plateau. Snow is also likely on Mt Taranaki although the heaviest falls will be on Mt Ruapehu and the ranges to the south east. So while the weather might not be fantastic this weekend for skiing the weather for the first week of the school holidays may be - and with a fresh layer of snow.

Temperatures should be a little higher in the North Island under a warmer northerly flow. Highs between 15 and 17 are likely for Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Northland.

Like the low earlier this week it's large in size but not especially aggressive. The large size does increase the chances of flooding as it will take longer to move across the country - bringing a longer spell of rain or showers than a small low - but at this stage there are no firm signs of severe rainfall. We'll keep you posted at WeatherWatch.co.nz across the weekend.

On a completely separate topic - I'm not sure if you heard about the Alien clouds in New York the other day? Some very unusual clouds, called Mammatus, appeared in the evening sky ... the clouds are strange enough looking on their own but turning up at the same time as sunset made them look extra strange. In fact many commented on how they looked like the clouds from the movie Independence Day when the big UFO suddenly appeared over New York. Thousands of people went out into the streets and took photos and filmed it. CNN even reported some found it a romantic sight. Take a look at the story and photos here .

And finally, if you're a fan of the Atlantic Hurricane Season you might find this story interesting - the hurricane season has started but so far nothing has really happened...why is that?