Covering period of Thursday 3rd - Monday 7th April

It has been a wet 18 hours across much of the country, and MetService is forecasting further heavy rain as a widespread weather system moves through.

The top of the South Island—Tasman, Buller, and Marlborough—is in line for the highest rainfall accumulations. After a wet night, the heaviest rainfall is still to come from Thursday afternoon and may lead to surface flooding, slips, and hazardous road conditions. Orange Heavy Rain Warnings are in place there until midday Friday.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane says, “The warning areas are forecast to see around a month's worth of rain in about a day, so expect rivers to rise rapidly and surface flooding may cause disruption.”

Other parts of the western South Island, as well as the headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers are also under an Orange Warning.

The main rain band is expected to extend into the North Island from late Thursday into Friday, bringing large amounts of rain to northern and western regions. The heaviest rain is expected overnight in Northland and Friday morning around commute time for Auckland, extending to other areas throughout the day. Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and the top of Tairawhiti/Gisborne are under an Orange Heavy Rain Warning, while Auckland, Waikato, and Taranaki are under a Watch.

In addition to heavy rain, strong winds are set to impact parts of the North Island. The strongest winds are expected in South Taranaki, Taihape, and Whanganui, where a Strong Wind Watch is in place for Friday. The Chatham Island are also in with a risk of Strong winds Friday evening to Saturday morning.

“This is the largest weather system we’ve seen so far this year. It will definitely pay to keep a close eye on metservice.com for updates over the next day or so,” Makgabutlane advises.

By the end of Friday, the heaviest rain is expected to have largely moved off the country, though it may linger in eastern Bay of Plenty. The weekend stays mostly dry, but some showers could still affect areas that have already seen heavy rain, especially on Sunday.

© Scoop Media