Debbie has lost cyclone status and is now crossing further into Queensland bringing more rain as wind becomes less of an issue.  Flooding concerns will be considerable with over 500mm expected from Debbie.

So what happens next? The remnants of the storm will drift back out into the Tasman Sea and a low will start to drift towards New Zealand merging with a cold front moving up the South Island’s West Coast. Rain there may be heavy enough to prompt a rain warning on Sunday.

The front then moves into the North Island this Monday but should fall apart. It’s not a storm.

But this is where things get interesting.

There appears to be a bit of a sub-tropical vacuum left behind after Debbie – next week we see sub-tropical air sinking all around the North Island and this may bring very heavy, slow moving, tropical rains back into areas hit by flooding from a similar set up earlier this month. Rain may even push right down into the South Island.

It’s too far out to know if these sub-tropical downpours are going to cause problems in the North Island next week – but it’s one to monitor and we’ll be focusing on this set up closely.

April can be quite a wet month as summer fades away and winter slides in. We’ll keep you posted on heavy rain and flood potential over the coming week or so.

For ongoing updates on Debbie in Australia we suggest you try Weatherzone.

Track map from BoM as of 8am NZT

TODAY 8am NZT:

FRIDAY MORNING:

NEXT WEDNESDAY – The tropics come back to NZ by the looks of it…

– WeatherWatch.co.nz