Whanganui missed the brunt of the severe weather that hit the north and east of the North Island this week.
Makgabutlane said this was due to the high Central Plateau and elevated mountain ranges, which sheltered the Whanganui region from the storm system as it approached from the north and northeast.
“The wind flow and the bands of rain that were coming in from that north and northeasterly, and even easterly direction ... means that the Central Plateau of the North Island, which is a lot more elevated, managed to catch and capture a lot of that rain.”
Instead, regions on the North Island’s east coast received most of the severe rainfall.
Makgabutlane said the worst of the weather had passed.
Looking towards the weekend, Whanganui can expect calmer conditions with some lingering showers and elevated winds.
“Temperatures this weekend start off fairly mild, and then it gets cooler on Saturday and Sunday.”
The daytime highs are expected to be 23C on Friday, 19C on Saturday and 21C on Sunday.
Overnight lows are expected to be 17C on Friday, 12C on Saturday and 13C on Sunday.
“In terms of rain, on Friday we’ve still got some showers expected,” Makgabutlane said.
The showers may worsen later in the day and be heavy at times, with occasional breaks in the cloud cover possible between showers in coastal areas.
“It could be quite a showery day.”
Similar conditions are expected for Saturday.
On Sunday, the rain will continue. Inland areas will likely have heavier rain and persistent cloud cover, whereas coastal areas may have a chance of some sunshine.
“We could see some thunderstorm activity at some point over the weekend,” she said.
Winds are expected to remain strong on Friday, ease over Saturday and then return on Sunday.
The wind will be predominantly westerly through the weekend, with some chance of northwesterlies on Friday and southwesterlies on Saturday.
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
