New Zealand Forecast, Monday, August 12th – Pair of Fronts Bring Strong Winds and a Little Snow Monday & Thursday
Mountainwatch | The Grasshopper
A front moves up the country today and will leave behind a nice wee top-up of about 2-7cm for the Southern Lakes, a couple of centimetres or less for some Canterbury resorts, and some high-level snow on Mt Ruapehu. However, the winds are strong and will hamper lift operations.
Skies will then be clear and sunny the following couple of days as pressures build, but winds will remain quite strong on Tuesday before easing on Wednesday.
Winds become strong again on Thursday as a second front moves over the lower South Island, spilling rain and high-level snow onto the Southern Lakes.
Monday August 12th
Strong westerly winds over New Zealand will blow a gale in exposed places, affecting lift operations at many resorts. A front moving up the country will turn winds to the southwest, but they’ll remain strong.
The front will bring snow to the Southern Lakes in the morning, although Treble Cone will see little of it, then it’ll turn sunny in the afternoon.
In Canterbury, rain and high-level snow (mostly about the MacKenzie and Craigieburn resorts) will clear to fine in the morning, but the front will bring a period of snowfall in the afternoon, with Mt Hutt, Porter’s Pass and Mt Lyford picking up the bulk of it.
On Mt Ruapehu, rain and mid- to high-level snow will develop in the morning and will build through the afternoon before clearing at night.
Tuesday August 13th
A fine, sunny day for South Island resorts, but SW winds will still be quite strong in exposed areas.
Strong southerlies on Ruapehu will blow a gale up high, and there will be some morning cloud with a spot of drizzle on the south side, but that’ll clear for a sunny afternoon.
Wednesday August 14th
A sunny day for all NZ resorts. W-NW winds for the Southern Lakes, SW winds in Canterbury will die out in the morning, and brisk southerlies on Ruapehu gradually ease.
Thursday August 15th
Strong NW winds over the South Island will rise to gale in exposed areas in the morning as skies turn grey. Rain and high-level snow spilling over the Main Divide will mostly affect Southern Lakes resorts, where Treble Cone will likely cop heavy falls through the latter half of the day.
Ruapehu will start out fine, but westerly winds will blow in clouds for the afternoon.
Extended Forecast
The South Island will see more showers of rain and snow on Friday as the second front continues to move up the country.
A cold change may bring snow to the South Island this weekend as a low approaches in the Tasman Sea. At this stage, it’s uncertain how much snow will fall, and the low may bring rain early next week depending on whether it crosses the North Island or the South Island.
That’s all from me today, folks. The next forecast is Wednesday. See you then, and have a great couple of days.
Grasshopper
