Fiordland and parts of the West Coast are about to be drenched in up to 350mm of rain over the next two days.
A slow moving front is “trapped” over those areas, sandwiched between a high to the southwest and another high to the east, MetService meteorologist Nick Zachar says.
MetService has issued heavy rain warnings for Westland, south of Haast, from 3am today until 9am on Wednesday, in Fiordland from 6am today until 6am on Wednesday and also about the Otago lakes and rivers.
Streams and rivers may rise rapidly, surface flooding and slips are possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.
MetService also warned that northwest winds could rise to severe gales in exposed parts of Southland for a time today.
However, the rest of the country is in for a few days of “unchanged” weather, Zachar said.
“It will be pretty good weather for most of the country.
“There may be a few showers in the east from Northland down through Coromandel, and Gisborne down to Hawke’s Bay otherwise it will be a fine, sunny day.”
The South Island’s east coast, from Dunedin through to Canterbury, Nelson and Marlborough, is in for a fine day start to the week also.
The front hitting West Coast early this week will start slowly moving north on Wednesday, bringing rain to Buller, Nelson and Canterbury.
On Thursday and Friday it will weaken, but move into parts of central New Zealand.
Eastern parts of the North Island will see a few showers through the week, with Gisborne receiving the most rainfall.
For the rest of the country the week’s forecast is “not looking too bad”, Zachar said.
“The temperatures will remain relatively static, nothing too extreme, fairly unchanging weather at the moment.”
The active tropical cyclone season continues with Tropical Cyclone Marcus battering Australia’s Northern Territory over the past few days.
The cyclone is currently Category 2, but is offshore to the west of Australia and is forecast to continue moving west into the Indian Ocean and reach Category 3 tonight.
Another tropical cyclone may form to the northeast of Australia in the next few days also.
In the Pacific Islands above New Zealand there is currently no cyclone activity, however there is a possibility of something forming near the Solomon Islands later in the week.
“It is very low risk, but it is something to keep our eye on,” Zachar said.
