Nearly 20 rain, snow and wind warnings are in effect across New Zealand as a tropical-charged low is set to unleash a burst of wild weather.
Much of New Zealand will be shrouded in gray skies today, with rain starting to fall on top of the country and getting worse as the day progresses.
A number of Alpine passes in the South Island have a snow warning with MetService warning for “influential snow” in the interior.
For early Friday morning, there are road snow warnings for Crown Range Road, Lindis Pass and Porters Pass.
MetService has also issued a severe snow warning for the Queenstown Lakes District above 400 meters from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday morning.
Further north, the Canterbury Highlands could see heavier snow.
A heavy snow warning has been issued for the south of the Rangitata River, especially around the Mackenzie Basin, where 10 to 15 cm is expected above 700 m and 5 to 10 cm up to 400 m.
Rain warnings and watches extend from Northland to Westland, with rain not ceasing in some regions until 3pm Saturday afternoon.
The besieged west coast could be one of the hardest hit with a heavy rain warning south of Otira from 5 a.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Saturday.
During this period, 150-230 mm of rain is expected in the region and slips and flooding are possible.
Storms will also ravage much of the country, with MetService warning of wild weather in nearly every region thanks to a subtropical rainmaker behind widespread flooding in New South Wales.
The rising deluge could lead to flooding and waterfalls in northern areas saturated by midweek rain.
Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Mt Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, the mountain ranges of Gisborne north of Ruatoria, Tasman west of Motueka and Buller are also under heavy rain warnings and watches.
MetService also added a strong wind guard tomorrow for South Taranaki, inland Whanganui and Taihape, and a heavy snow warning for the upland country of Canterbury.
“With the school holidays approaching, it may be worth factoring the weather into your travel plans,” MetService warned.
They are the first major storms that forecasters say will pass over the country in the next two weeks.
In the outlook for severe weather, MetService says, as well as heavy rain approaching warning criteria, Northland would likely be rocked by thunderstorms.
The large low and associated fronts would move into New Zealand from the west tomorrow, with heavy rain in many areas and strong winds to the north and snow to the central South Island.
Niwa Weather said a series of strong lows were expected over the next two weeks, fueled by rain from the tropics.
Another was to take place on Monday, and more later in the first week of the holiday.
“The theme will be wetter than normal conditions with a risk of flooding,” the forecaster said.
Weatherwatch.co.nz said the North Island is bearing the brunt of its most unsettled weather in half a decade, with at least six lows bringing rain and wind over the next 10 days.
The forecaster said that while not all lows were stormy, at least three “severe weather hazards” were expected.
This winter pattern was the most unsettled the North Island had seen in half a decade, after five years of general rain shortages in the top half of the island, the forecaster said.
– Additional reporting ODT Online