The huge northwest cloudband that was the topic of interest in Thursday's story, could be seen splitting the country in satellite imagery on Friday 21st. 

The northwest cloudband spanned 7000km yesterday, stretching from Western Australia's Gascoyne to NSW's northeast. Not only did it visually split the country, the cloudband marked the boundary between hot air and cold air quite distinctly as we can see with 4:15pm temperatures being overlayed on top of the satellite image. 

Image: Satellite image with recorded temperatures, winds and rain radar at 4:15pm AEST on Friday 21st August

As mentioned in "What is a northwest cloudband", the cloudband draws tropical moisture from the Indian Ocean across the country, pushed by a passing system like a cold front from the south. We can also distinctly see the moisture in the cloud band compared to the other parts of the country. 

Image: Satellite image with recorded dewpoint temperatures (measure of moisture; the higher the more moisture there is), winds and rain radar at 4:15pm AEST on Friday 21st August

The cloudband is dissipating over the weekend as the trough and front system that provided its moisture and motion have moved over the Tasman Sea. The system is looking to bring substantial winds to our neighbours across the pond, with forecast winds up to 120km/h forecast for the New Zealand Alps and areas about the Cook Strait. Other than winds, MetService has issued weather warnings for heavy rainfall of 140-160mm, 1-5cm of snow above 500m and swell up to 4 to 4.5m over the weekend.