By the end of the week and into this coming weekend, it appears that very cold air is likely to push in yet again over southern and eastern parts of the South Island, with the possibility of snow to low levels.
So far this winter two snowy spells have taken place with the last one certainly having a bite to it across the country and it’s possible that a third might signal that Spring isn’t fully underway this week.
How much snow are we talking?
At this stage it seems to be more showery activity in terms of rain, hail, sleet and snow but the temperatures do seem cold enough however the amount of moisture is marginal.
Temperatures look very chilly over the weekend coming up, especially for those exposed to the south.
We will continue to update the cold outbreak as we close in on the upcoming event.
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pete on 28/08/2011 11:40pm
how bout focusing on weather abit closer like how much rain are we going to get in the north island from this low moving south, the upper part of the north island is desperate for some moisture to kick grass growth into gear after a very dismal august!!
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WW Forecast Team on 28/08/2011 11:57pm
Hi Pete – there isn’t much moisture attached to that incoming weak low – but there is one blob of cloud which could produce some heavy rain over a 200km area. Other than that it’s mostly drizzly/showery stuff – and will clear quickly on Tuesday I’m afraid. More rain or showers likely on Friday and Saturday but it won’t be much.
Then dry for a few days after that. No serious rain in the immediate forecast for the upper North Island – as soon as we see some we’ll let you know.
– WW
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Guest on 28/08/2011 9:31pm
Looks like for heavy snow on friday above 400m in Canterbury. Colder air will arrive later but by that stage moisture will have reduced so heavy low level snow seems unlikely.
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sw on 28/08/2011 7:11am
Looks a rather standard southerly looking at the models,snow at higher elevations in the E&S of the SI,Snow in regular elevated areas such as desert road,S for Wellington SW in Auckland.
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Chris on 28/08/2011 7:45am
From the models I’ve looked at, this looks like a smaller version of ‘The Big One’ we had a few weeks ago. Air is going to be dragged up from the antarctic, however it won’t be quite as cold or moisture laiden. I’m predicticing freezeing temperatures across the eastern side of both islands, with possible heavy snow in the deep south and even a tiny possibility of snow to lower than usual levels up the eastern coasts of both islands.
-Amateur Weatherman
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JohnGaul on 28/08/2011 6:20am
The tendancy now as we are approaching spring is for a more thunderstorm approach to any cold event that may come up from the deep south rather than snowy weather although that can still eventuate. Any thunderstorm event could produce significent hail events which may not be nice to spring growth.
JohnGaul
NZThS
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