News

Today the country will  be in the midst  of a weather battle and being hit from all sides with conditions ranging from heavy rain to big gales and blizzards.

Lonely Planet is one of the biggest tourist online companies and below they've done their best to promote our weather in a nutshell. Does it all make sense to you and do you agree?

Reports are coming in from isolated areas of Auckland where heavy downpours have resulted in some localised flooding affecting a handful of homes and some vehicles.

This afternoon conditions are likely to deteriorate further for the city as a band of rain slowly sweeps southwards with the chance of futher heavy falls with a small risk of thunder.

Column by Canterbury weather enthusiast and media writer Beck Eleven - The axis is tilting, we must say farewell to the big fireball in the sky. An autumnal chill is in the air, giving way to a vision of snow-capped alps while leaves turn deep orange indicating change is upon us. Autumn and winter inspire such poetic thoughts.

Some of the latest data information coming through to WeatherWatch this morning shows that the southerly outbreak moving up the country during Sunday and Monday may not be so icy with snow falling now across higher elevations.

Still though this system is set to pack a punch with some heavy rain and strong and blustery conditions.

April proved warm to very warm over much of the North Island and the best news was that most drought affected regions received reasonable rainfall totals to either ease or completely break the very dry situation.

The last three weekends have all had particular themes ranging from the wettest to the warmest for the year and now this weekend bucks the trend because by late Sunday it looks to be the coldest.

From this weekend onwards conditions seem to be swinging back and forth for the country and we break it down day by day starting with Saturday...

The South Island is looking mostly dry to start the weekend off in the early stages but some rain is set to develop along the West Coast in the afternoon ahead of an active trough.

Western parts of the country, moreso over the South Island, could see a line of thunderstorms with localised heavy downpours as the biggest talking point of Thursday.

Nelson also could be on the receiving end of a lightning show but not all parts of the region will be in for a show of some description.

After a frosty start in the south temperatures rose to the mid to high teens in places but it was the Far North with the highest temperature of 23 degrees taking the spotlight for Kaitaia.

Napier was nearly 10 degrees down on yesterday after a sou' wester blew through the city with temperatures fairly close to the May average on 17 degrees.