Dunedin residents can stand down and relax again, after a large weather system that threatened to bring a major deluge and flooding to the city moved off to the east of the country.
Since the beginning of this week, Civil Defence Emergency Management and the MetService have been keeping a close eye on the front which had potential to bring heavy rain tomorrow.
MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said a large area of low pressure in the Tasman Sea was forecast to move east across the South Island tonight and early tomorrow.
Once the weather band moved off the country, it was expected to wrap around and lash the eastern part of the South Island.
While the weather band was still expected to wrap around, the heaviest falls would now be too far east into the Pacific Ocean to reach the Otago coastline.
The latest MetService forecast showed there would be occasional rain tomorrow morning, which was expected to clear in the afternoon, and southerlies would turn westerly.
However, MetService is still forecasting some snow about higher parts of inland Otago and Southland on Friday night and Saturday morning."Snow is likely to affect some of the higher roads about the south of the South Island and there is a possibility that the snow accumulations above 800 metres in Fiordland, Southland and southern Otago will be enough to require a warning.
"For Stewart Island, the south coast of the South Island and coastal Clutha, there is moderate confidence that southwesterlies will reach severe gale force."
During King’s Birthday weekend, there will be some showers on Saturday in Queenstown and Cromwell, and in Invercargill all weekend, but the remainder of the region will be dry for the entire weekend.
Also on Saturday, it is likely that southwest winds about Stewart Island, the south coast of the South Island, and coastal areas of Clutha and Dunedin will require a warning.
And keep a coat handy — temperatures will be cooler and are only expected to reach the mid-teens by Monday.
