More downpours, isolated thunderstorms and even hail are forecast for the upper North Island of New Zealand as a large scale low pressure system continues to very slowly cross over the country for Wednesday and Thursday.

This showery set up will bring heavy downpours and isolated thunderstorms along western and northern areas, mainly Auckland, Northland and possibly Bay of Plenty later, but some may spread furth south into Taranaki and Waikato. Locally heavy rainfall is possible especially around the ranges in the central and upper North Island.

The flip side of this set up is that a big chunk of the South Island is drier than average for the next week ahead, but the next few days will be colder there with showers, falling as snow flurries above 500m.

A colder sou’wester sweeps over NZ by Thursday night and Friday, easing by the end of Saturday as a large high rolls in from the Tasman Sea and this large area of low pressure from NZ continues to be pushed eastwards away from us over the South Pacific Ocean.

7 DAY RAINFALL MAP COMPARED TO NORMAL
(Red = drier than average, White = average rainfall, Blue = wetter than average). Data by the US Government.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz