Hail, thunderstorms, gales – it certainly sounds like winter, but for Aucklanders the weather has actually been fairly mild lately – until this afternoon.

Rain set in this morning with mild nor’westers but now the rain has eased and the heavy showers are moving in.

“This is the tail end of the system that has been with us for a week and a half.  Aucklanders – and most other parts of the country for that matter – should see a real improvement in about 24 hours” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.

But Mr Duncan says there is one last surge of cold air with some pockets of rough weather for today and tomorrow.  “The rain has eased in Auckland but now the big showers are moving in.  WeatherWatch.co.nz has lpw confidence of some hail and we have now lifted the risk of thunder”.

Earlier today the severe weather was around the lower half of the North Island. 

WeatherWatch.co.nz says downpours over Auckland, Northland, Waikato, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki this afternoon and tonight may be locally torrential at times.

“Motorists are also advised to be prepared for sudden torrential downpours, possibly with blustery winds and hail”.

Mr Duncan says winds have been fairly light in Auckland today but conditions will change during the rest of today as a strong, much colder, south westerly arrives.  “This new pool of cold air is coming directly out of the Southern Ocean and straight into Auckland.  The next 24 hours will be very cold compared to previous days”.

But WeatherWatch.co.nz points out that any thunder and hail will be isolated – and not as widespread as with other regions this week, with the thunder risk for Auckland being removed altogether.

And what about the long term forecast?  “It’s a mix of good news and potentially bad news.  We have calm and dry weather moving in for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for Auckland and Saturday doesn’t look too bad either apart from a few remaining showers… but next Wednesday we think a sub-tropical low will move in for a few days across northern New Zealand”.

– Homepage image / MandenoMoments.com

We’ll have more details on the sub-tropical low at 5pm