Another nasty blast coming for the North Island as the South Island's freezes

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

Latest MetService Severe Weather Warnings

Another nasty blast of bad weather is on the way for New Zealand as the country picks up the pieces left by a ferocious storm.

Heavy rain, snow and damaging gusts battered much of the country on Tuesday but conditions have started to ease.

But in the background is a fast moving trough expected to sweep across the upper North Island on Thursday night.

Snow in the Tekapo Mackenzie District on Tuesday.

Associated westerly winds could rise to severe gales in exposed parts of Northland, and the already battered Auckland region, Great Barrier Island, Waikato and Coromandel Peninsula, MetService says.

Widespread power outages, trees down on cars and houses, and powerlines fallen.

⚠💨 Strong Wind Watch issued for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato for Thursday night and early Friday https://t.co/bcFLKY4OUU ^JL

— MetService (@MetService) April 10, 2018

**READ MORE:

A tornado ripped through the coastal Taranaki town of Rahotu on Tuesday morning.

* Roofs off, trees, powerlines down as Auckland takes hit from southerly storm

* Taranaki's torrid post-tornado night cuts power to more homes

This tree came down in in Ponsonby, Auckland.

* Tremendous wind, then big crash, as huge tree crashes onto Auckland roof**

We're not out of the woods with the current storm either.

Trees came down overnight across Auckland causing widespread damage.

Downpours with hail remain a risk on Wednesday, with areas in the firing line including eastern Taranaki and the Whanganui hill country, and the Hawke's Bay hill country east of Wairoa, MetService says.

There's a moderate risk of thunderstorms this afternoon for Northland and much of the Auckland region, as well as for coastal areas of Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington and Wairarapa.

Umbrellas out in full force in Christchurch, where a 1C overnight low is forecast.

Many parts of the country were expected to have strong southwesterlies on Thursday, and a burst of heavy rain was forecast for western areas of the South Island. Southern parts of Southland, as well as Clutha could also have heavy rain on Thursday.

During Wednesday afternoon, the risk of thunderstorms becomes moderate in southern Taranaki, Whanganui and coastal areas of Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

MetService also warned strong winds and big swells made conditions at sea dangerous.

'We're still in quite a showery flow,' MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said on Wednesday morning.

A rainband over Auckland was weakening 'but that doesn't mean that's all they're going to get today', she said.

'If it does get more active and you get caught under one of those showers, you could see up to 20mm in an hour and some wind gusts, not to the extent of last night when the main front went over,' Murray said. There could be hail and gusts could get to 110kmh.

Around 9am there were lightning strikes to the west of Auckland.

'The main thing is strong, could southwesterlies, easing this morning, but they will strengthen again in the evening. Temperatures are cold for Auckland. It's only 9 degrees (Celsius) at the airport at the moment.

'They've been used to overnight minimums of 18 or 19C… This is a wintry blast.'

Snow could fall to about 700-800m on the spine going up the North Island, Murray said.

'There could be some hail. It's a real mixed bag of stuff, decent snow down south, fine weather in the west of the South Island, even though it's cold. As you go north there's a lot of showers and rain and bits and pieces around.' Because so much was going on, she advised people to check the forecast for their area on MetService's website.

Road snowfall warnings on Wednesday cover the Napier-Taupo Road, Desert Road, Lewis Pass, Porters Pass and the Milford Road.

Auckland is expected to get to 14C on Wednesday, with showers becoming isolated in the afternoon. Southwesterlies are forecast to be cold, as well as strong and gusty at times.

For Wellington, the top temperature is just 10C and there could be heavy showers with hail and some thunderstorms, as well as strong or gale strong southerlies.

Christchurch is headed for 11C, with heavy showers and a chance of thunder and hail. A strong, cold southwesterly is expected to ease in the evening.

Overnight temperatures are forecast to drop to zero or below in parts of the lower half of the South Island, including Timaru and Central Otago. Mt Cook Village is expected to drop to -8C and Christchurch to just keep above freezing.