Media Release: Met Office, 29 June, 2015
It’s a ferociously windy start to the week for many areas, as a persistent ridge over Australia and the Tasman Sea push a strong west to southwest flow over New Zealand for the next few days.
These westerly gales stretch from the Indian Ocean to New Zealand. With such an enormous length or ‘fetch’, significant swells are forecast for western and southern coastal areas all week. Swells rise to 4 metres Monday and Tuesday north of Raglan, getting larger as you head southwards with 8-metre swells set to give Fiordland and the southern coastline a battering at times until Wednesday morning.
“After a busy few days with the southwest flow, the weather should settle down mid-week, especially for those who live north of Taupo,” said MetService Meteorologist Rob Kerr. “After this however, a complex low looks set to bring significant rain to the central North Island later on Friday and into Saturday, including catchments still recovering from flooding a little over week ago. We know that’s the last thing they need right now,and we’ll be keeping close tabs on how this system is likely to affect the area, ” said Kerr.