Winter weather: Fiordland and Westland in the firing line

9:38 pm on 23 July 2017

More heavy rain is on the way but this time it's likely to hit the South Island's west coast.

The sunrise over a very wet Timaru.

Sunrise in Timaru on Sunday: Clear skies are expected for much of the country, but heavy rain is likely in Fiordland and Westland. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

MetService says Otago and Canterbury aren't likely to see a repeat of the weekend's deluge in the next few days, but there is a heavy rain warning in place for Fiordland and downpours are also possible in Westland. The heaviest falls are expected in Fiordland where there could be 70 to 90mm of rain in an 11-hour period from midnight Sunday.

From Friday to Sunday, Oamaru recorded 147mm of rain compared to its usual July level of about 40mm. Dunedin, which averages 42mm in July, received 125mm.

MetService forecaster Angus Hines described the weather coming in the next few days as more standard, with heavy rain hitting the west coast.

"There's a few weather systems moving onto the South Island throughout the week.

"The next couple of systems which are heading down that way are a bit more of a classical system, in that they're coming on bringing the heaviest rain in from the west this time."

He said the expected systems could still bring "some pretty heavy rain" to the coast, but "certainly nothing like the intensity or the prolonged nature of the rain that was experienced there at the end of last week".

Meanwhile, for much of the rest of the country, clear weather was on the way.

"[It's] not looking too bad for the next couple of days," Mr Hines said. "It's quite clear over the South Island actually right at the moment, so some of those places could get some pretty cold mornings.

"Temperatures could be looking pretty chilly - maybe looking down at minus one, minus two ... in places there with the mid-afternoon highs getting to 10 or 12."

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