The same cold blast that just brought snow to Tasmania is about to pounce on New Zealand bringing a burst of gale force winds, heavy rain and then snow on the ranges with a brief cold southerly change.

RAIN:
Before the southerly very heavy rain will return to the West Coast, developing across Sunday and not easing until Monday. A further 150 to 200mm of rain is possible on the West Coast during this event which may cause flooding and slips.

SNOW:
Snow will fall across the mountains and ranges with heavy falls in alpine areas where over 15 to 20cms of snow is possible. Please note this is alpine areas, not any main centres.

TEMPS:
Most places across NZ will see a drop in temperatures with daytime highs falling by around 4 to 7 degrees in the days ahead. Some may be a little more due to a warmer surge or nor’westers ahead of the cold change. Some in the South Island may also have a light frost well inland on Tuesday morning if winds ease fast enough.

WIND:
Severe gales are likely in marine areas, especially around the South Island with winds sustained at over 100km/h possible for a time. Please note this doesn’t appear to apply to land at this stage but gales (60km/h+) are likely in some exposed areas on Monday.

WAVES:
Finally, there are huge waves moving in now. Tasmania was hit by 14 metre waves on Friday.  Wave heights won’t be as great as that in NZ but will still be extremely large with a height of 8 metres around Fiordland, 5 to 7 metres along the West Coast slowly spreading up the North Island’s west coast late Monday and into early Tuesday.

Overall this is a short lived burst of potential severe weather – by Tuesday things calm down and by Wednesday things warm back up again.

SWELLS (height in metres)

TEMPERATURES (12noon – Sunday then Monday)
SUNDAY:

MONDAY:

– WeatherWatch.co.nz