A wet Thursday afternoon has turned a little more serious as WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters track some significant downpours, heavy enough to cause flash and surface flooding.

With only a light WNW breeze some of the downpours are intense and slow moving.

There has already been some flooding in Auckland from a downpour at 1pm along with isolated thunder.

As we head into the later part of Thursday these downpours are moving in and increasing – but the worst is isolated, there are plenty of large dry areas and ‘normal’ downpours in the mix too. 

This set up is what we call “unstable” – by that we mean these downpours can increase further or weaken without warning however we generally expect showers to increase this afternoon.

The worst of the downpours are isolated – but may cause flooding, cloud to ground thunder, near zero visibility on our motorways and hail. People are advised to take care across Thursday PM. If you hear thunder, remain indoors until it has passed.

Conditions should ease tonight.

• View the live Lightning Tracker here
• View the Forecast Rain Radar here

2pm Maps:

2pm rain radar, areas circled the most intense and are drifting east to south east towards land (but the worst is isolated). Radar funded by the NZ taxpayer, provided by the NZ Govt. Infographic / WeatherWatch.co.nz 

2:10pm Lightning tracker. Click to see live image.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz