A front moves on to the North Island early on Friday, spreading a band of scattered rain and cooler temperatures as far north as Rotorua, before stalling.
MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon said rain from the “weakened front” would stick around over the North Island this weekend before clearing on Sunday night.
“Down south the weekend is looking sunnier, with temperatures starting to warm up again on Sunday as we head into summer,” Wotherspoon said.
First 30C of the spring
Niwa said the cool change comes after New Zealand saw its first 30C temperature of the spring on Thursday - recording a maximum temperature of 33.3C in Riccarton, Christchurch. It said this was the warmest spring day for the suburb since 2002.
Niwa said the sweltering temperatures were credited to a “warm air mass and gusty westerly winds”.
Other areas in the Canterbury region that surpassed 30C included Bromley, Christchurch Gardens and Rangiora.
In the North Island, Niwa also recorded Waiora in the Hawke’s Bay as reaching 31.3C.
Niwa reports temperatures are likely to be warmer than average through to January, with frequent northwesterly winds leading to more days above 25C.
Also raising the odds for hot summer weather was the potential for marine heatwave conditions – already occurring in seas to the east of New Zealand – to expand and intensify.
While warmer seas might sound welcome to beachgoers, marine heatwaves have helped drive glacier melts, extreme deluges – and a cascade of damaging impacts beneath the surface.
And dry and hot conditions are already fuelling concern about fire danger, months away from the peak of summer.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Hawke’s Bay district manager Glen Varcoe confirmed fire-risk indices were late last week elevated to high across the Ahuriri and Heretaunga districts, including Napier and Hastings and coastal regions north to Wairoa.
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