Temperatures soar over Labour Weekend, but rain, thunderstorms ahead for Canterbury

Monday, 28 October 2019

Ellie Valdes and Taine Haines relax in the sun at Christchurch's Hagley Park.

Temperatures soared in parts of the South Island over Labour Weekend, but they were expected to plummet in Christchurch on Tuesday, with possible thunder storms in the afternoon.

The sun came out for most of the country over the long weekend, but a front that moved over the South Island on Sunday brought strong winds into Wellington on Monday, MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said.

While Kaikōura and Whakatane hit the highest temperatures with 27 degrees Celsius on Sunday, snow was predicted from Monday night for 'higher passes in the South Island'. But this would only be a problem for those travelling on the high roads, Glassey said.

Christchurch was due for some showers in the next couple of days, with 'some possible thunder storms [on Tuesday] afternoon' about Canterbury, eastern Otago and Southland.

Aimee Aitken and Matt Gibson make the most of the sun at Hagley Park on Monday.

* Heavy rain, gale-force winds and possible thunder moving down from the north

* Break in the weather for Saturday – then southerly gales, heavy rain Sunday**

But the sun would return for Thursday, Friday, and the weekend, Glassey said.

'We're expecting quite warm temperatures for Christchurch this weekend coming, Sunday especially could even be in the late 20s.'

Saturday was forecast to reach 24C, while Sunday's temperature could be even warmer with 27C expected.

The warm weather was set to continue for most of the country, Glassey said.

'I think we had some pretty settled weather in the east of both islands in the last couple of days.

'Next weekend especially, it's looking quite warm right across most of the country.'

Auckland was likely to have odd periods of showers through the week, but it would clear for the weekend.

In Wellington, there could be a couple of small southerlies, but 'apart from that the weather will be pretty dry' over the next week.

Both Lindis Pass and the Crown Range Rd could have 1 to 2 centimetres of snow settling on the road near the summit early on Tuesday morning, and Milford Rd could get between 4 and 8cm above 800 metres.