Weather: Cold temps and clear skies for the last week of winter

Auckland is forecast to have a mostly sunny week. Photo / Alex Burton

This week marks the last meteorological week of winter, and it is expected to be filled with mostly settled weather and frosty temperatures throughout the country.

MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam said a ridge of high pressure is expected to settle over the country today, bringing clear skies for the majority of the working week.

As the new weather system moves in, the last dregs of winter will stick their claws in, with temperatures dropping below typical averages this week.

Bellam expects mornings across the country to be filled with frost, along with mostly clear skies, excepting the odd shower.

Today is predicted to be cloudy in Auckland, with a few morning showers which will clear up by the afternoon. The evening sees a decrease in southwest winds.

Elsewhere in the North Island, it is expected to be partly cloudy with isolated showers, clearing from Bay of Plenty this evening.

Tuesday will be mostly fine for the North Island, with some cloudiness over Northland. There will be sporadic showers in the South Island south of Otago, which will clear towards the east, with generally good weather elsewhere.

In the west of Auckland, specifically Whenuapai, temperatures are expected to fall to 1C on Tuesday and below 0C on Wednesday.

There will also be frosty, low temperatures in “sheltered pockets” of Northland, Bellam said.

Down south, a front is anticipated to approach the southern South Island on Thursday as it moves east. It is possible a warning amount of rain will fall in Fiordland.

There is moderate confidence in warning quantities of rain for Fiordland and the south of Westland on Friday as the front slowly progresses north over the lower South Island.

“Other than that, she’s looking pretty peachy this week as we wrap up the rest of the meteorological winter,” Bellam said.

Every winter, we monitor the behaviour of the polar vortex ♻️

What happens above Antarctica can influence things across the hemisphere!

The vortex has generally been stronger than normal, but its configuration changed during August, possibly linked to our chilly temperatures 🐧 pic.twitter.com/VXazkevtbO

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) August 26, 2023