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Wet in the West and North, snowy in the South

Friday 9 May 2008, 10:24AM

By Metservice

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MetService meteorologists have issued heavy rain warnings for Westland and Fiordland and snow warnings for the inland ranges of Otago and South Canterbury, also for Milford Road and Lindis Pass.

"The trough moving onto the South Island is bringing heavy rain to western areas and the Southern Alps", commented MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt. "Cold southerlies are expected to arrive over Southland tonight and spread north into Canterbury on Friday, bringing a spell of widespread cold rain turning to snow on the foothills and in the inland basins."

Mr. McDavitt added that heavy snow falls above 1200 metres in parts of Otago and South Canterbury may pose problems to high country farmers.

"This trough is also likely to bring bursts of thundery rain to the far north from tonight", said Mr. McDavitt "and extend on Friday morning across the rest of Northland and to northern parts of the Auckland region. Thunderstorms may spread later on Friday to Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne, and then, on Saturday, to southern parts of Gisborne and the ranges of Hawke's Bay".

This trough is expected to produce contrasting conditions between the mild rain in the north and west and the colder rain in the far south. The latest forecasts and warnings can be found on the MetService web site.