“We’re not expecting extremely large rainfall intensities, but just due to the length of time, there could be some reasonable total rainfall amounts over that period.”
As the front tracks north and moves across both islands, most parts of the motu are expected to receive at least some rain tomorrow.
“Pretty much everywhere in the country will see a bit of rain during Sunday.
“That all pretty quickly moves east, though, so most places won’t see a huge amount of rain.”
The change will also bring temperatures back around to the winter average for this time of year.
“The extremely cold temperatures we’ve had are pretty much gone now”, he said.
“With this extra cloud that’s coming over tonight, it’s going to be a fair bit warmer.”
That being said, a road snowfall warning has been issued for Crown Range Rd, which stretches between Wanaka and Queenstown.
The warning will be in place from 10pm tonight to 6am tomorrow.
Rain may turn to snow about the summit, which could accumulate between 1 to 3cm high.
Overnight lows are expected to reach the teens again in Northland, Kaitaia and Auckland, while Wellington will hit 9C and Christchurch 4C.
“Still a little bit chilly, not completely warm, but a fair bit warmer than what we have had over the last few days.”
Frosts will linger for central parts of both islands but are expected to have vanished heading into the next working week.
White said next week will be “messy” thanks to a series of troughs.
Scattered showers will build on Monday, particularly on the western coasts, before more widespread wet weather develops.
“There’s a lot of small troughs and features around the place that models all have different ideas on,” he said.
“Suffice to say Tuesday and Wednesday are looking wet for a lot of places, but exact timings and locations are a little bit up in the air.”