New Zealand’s first cold snap of the year has arrived, with snow forecast to fall at the bottom of the South Island and bitterly cold gales for Auckland.
“It’s not going to be a pleasant weekend. Auckland is not going to be a nice place.”
That is the official word from MetService meteorologist Alain Baillie - who warned of the potential for severe gales around the country starting Friday morning.
A cold and unstable sub-antarctic blast will bring snow to higher elevations, with the potential for snow about the Desert Rd and Tararua Ranges and heavy snow watches in place for Otago and Fiordland from Saturday.
Periods of heavy showers are forecast for Auckland tonight, continuing over the weekend and “the winds will pick up tomorrow morning”.
Our latest Severe Weather Outlook is out. In addition, a Heavy Snow Watch has been issued for southern areas from 3pm Sat to 9pm Sun. Road Snow Warnings are out for the Milford and Crown Range roads tonight. Get the latest at https://t.co/qHyE5zzql5 pic.twitter.com/d9oDx1juPc
— MetService (@MetService) June 28, 2023
MetService has also forecast thunder and hailstorms for the Super City from tomorrow evening.
“All those showers we’ve had in the last couple of days? Well, they’ll strengthen,” Baillie said.
“Those winds will feel pretty bad. Auckland has a forecast high of 15C [on Sunday] but it will feel more like 8C.”
Baille said MetService would likely issue strong wind watches tomorrow, particularly about the coasts where waves could grow as high as 4m along western coastlines.
“It’s not a weekend for boaties, unfortunately. That goes for almost anywhere in New Zealand this weekend,” Baillie said.
Showers and gusts are forecast for the western parts of both islands, but eastern coasts may be “somewhat sheltered”, he said.
This animation illustrates where our air masses will be coming from late this week into early next week.
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) June 28, 2023
Hint: not from a warm place 🐧
🥶 El Niño is gradually building & may influence more southerly winds in the coming months ~ stay tuned for our climate outlook tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/QBSeuPQQn8
Winds could reach over 90km/h in exposed places - a trigger for severe gale warnings.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said snow was most likely over the lower South Island. The forecaster said there was a high chance more than 3cm could fall about the Southern Alps.
“There are ‘some’ odds that snow could fall to near sea level for parts of Southland and Otago,” Niwa said.
MetService issued heavy snow watches for Otago south of Queenstown, Alexandra and Mosgiel, including Southland and Stewart Island from 3pm Staurday until 9pm Sunday.
❄️ Snow is likely to fall to low levels
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) June 27, 2023
❄️ This is most likely to occur over the lower South Island
❄️ There are 'some' odds that snow could fall to near sea level for parts of Southland & Otago
❄️ Pictured are the odds of 3+ cm of snow Sat & Sun
🔴 high
🟠 medium
🟡 some pic.twitter.com/MvrsfhXVVw
A 45-hour heavy snow watch has also been issued for Fiordland from 9pm Friday.
Road snowfall warnings have been issued for Milford Rd and Crown Range Rd beginning at 8pm today at the earliest. Those warnings lapse at 2am tomorrow at the latest.
Temperatures around the country are forecast to remain low: Wellington has a high of 12C on Saturday and 11C on Sunday, Christchurch’s Saturday high is forecast for 10C and Sunday’s 9C and lows for both days of -2C.
“Rug up and play board games,” Baillie said.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.