The first week or two of April may be wetter than the last two weeks of March says WeatherWatch.co.nz.  A number of fronts connected to low pressure systems around New Zealand look set to bring rain this weekend to the West Coast, then next week may spread further.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says the first week of April looks “unsettled” with a lack of high pressure over the country.

“The higher the air pressure the better job it usually does of keeping the rain makers away” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.  “As we said earlier this month there are significant cracks showing around the edges of the highs and as we head into the first week of April this looks to be true”.

Mr Duncan says while those in drought zones shouldn’t be expecting a single rain event to reverse the dry conditions there are some data projections for next week which indicate rain is possible in all four corners of each island.

“Again next week looks hit and miss, as we have seen with all the rain events so far this year, but some regions are going to get follow up rains, like the West Coast”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says the Southern Ocean is now in ‘winter mode’ already pumping out big lows around Antarctica.

At the same time the series of big highs which have been the main driver of the droughts this year are breaking up more and more – allowing these Southern Ocean fronts to rise up and sweep over some parts of the country next week.

At the same time areas of sub-tropical showers and rain makers are skirting northern New Zealand – and as of Good Friday morning one model from the US Government was indicating a low east of the North Island later next week – while models from the European agency indicated a low was also possible over northern New Zealand – albeit not overly large. 

If these projections come true it could mean rain for the North Island.  “It’s very early days and certainly northern and eastern regions doesn’t need any false hope so we’re treading cautiously here – if the models remain the same over the next few days we’ll be very optimisitic”.

“At the moment we think there is about a 30% to 60% chance of rain for most of New Zealand at some point next week, with some regions having a number of days of preciptiation, especially the west and south”.

Mr Duncan says there are still more big dry spells expected in April but maintains that showers are now appearing in forecasts more often.

– Homepage image / David Hawke

– WeatherWatch.co.nz