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Southerners and Cantabrians are warned to expect severe thunderstorms tonight with possible flash floods and hail storms.
MetService issued the warning Sunday night for parts of South Canterbury and North Otago to expect rainfall of up to 25mm per hour and large hail. Driving conditions are expected to be dangerous in the region.
The storm is the first in a series of fronts set to sweep across parts of New Zealand this week, as two low-pressure systems will put an end to warm weather.
Strong winds forced the Prada Cup race, the America’s Cup main regatta, to be abandoned and replayed on Sunday. The weather forecast had already forced the racecourse to move in anticipation of one of the fronts exploding from the south across Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.
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The storm likely won’t cause too much trouble for the lucky ones still on vacation, but the weather will get worse later in the week, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.
“It’s going to be a big change from the warm weather we’ve had,” Little said.
“The change will occur in the middle of the week and it will be much colder.”
Rain and wind hit the west coast of the South Island and Wellington on Sunday, and much of the country will feel the same for days to come.
KEVIN’S STENT
Rain and winds are expected to hit the capital in the middle of the week (file photo).
“There are more systems lurking in Tasman waiting to be dropped on us,” Little said. “So it’s going to be a lot colder.
While Dunedin rose to 28.9 degrees on Sunday, temperatures would drop to about 15 degrees by the middle of the week.
Little said the front it runs through will likely see some severe weather warnings, with more rain and much stronger winds on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Phil Walter / Getty Images
The storms affected the Prada Cup on Sunday as race organizers changed course ahead of an expected storm.
Strong gales are likely to hit both islands as winds from the west to northwest blow, and gusts of winds of more than 120 km / h are expected to hit downtown Wellington on Tuesday, according to Weather Watch.
Gusts in the Wellington Hills could exceed 150km / h, along with some extremely exposed parts of the South Island, in the mountains and some wind tunnels.
That front could also hit the west coast of the South Island, dumping up to 200mm of rain across the region on Tuesday.
Rain could cause slipping, flooding, and even road closures, so campers and homeless people were advised to keep an eye on MetService’s mountain and marine forecasts.
But while the wet weather is not good news for those still on vacation, it will be welcome for those in the north, and some rain is expected to fall in the drought-stricken region, Little said.
“The system is likely to produce some rain, but not as much as they want there.”
