Look away South Islanders in drought zones, the following news might be hard to swallow – but Thursday night rain is falling across a number of North Island regions, brought on by daytime heating and higher humidity.

Across Waikato in particular the skies have opened up and rain has been falling – and heavy – for a number of hours for some districts.  Rain like this can completely reverse drought-like conditions, it is very positive news for a number of farmers.

Further south and rain has been falling for “hours” according to locals in some parts of Hawkes Bay, Wanganui, Ruapehu District and inland Bay of Plenty…areas that have been creeping towards drought like conditions for months.

Heavy downpours also moved into Wairarapa – a declared drought zone. 

Meanwhile thunderstorms lasting many hours have affected some parts of the North Island today – and inland upper South Island (although mostly away from populated places and farms in the South Island).

“The reason for the long North Island downpours – the winds are calm, the clouds build up with the heat and humidity and you’ve got perfect conditions for slow moving soaking showers” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.

Meanwhile, WeatherWatch.co.nz reported earlier Thursday evening that the winds around the upper North Island, north of Auckland, were being caught up in the flow of Cyclone Pam – a few thousand kilometres away.

Talking to Larry Williams on the NewstalkZB network on Thursday afternoon Philip Duncan said the air moving across northern New Zealand was now moving out over the Tasman Sea then eventually northwards and up and around Cyclone Pam, 3500kms away from New Zealand near Vanuatu.

“This is a monster storm – we don’t say that lightly, a cyclone with this energy only comes down to New Zealand about once every 20 or 30 years. It’s a positive sign that most reliable computer models are suggesting Pam will sideswipe north eastern New Zealand out to the east – but all North Islanders north of Waikato and Hawkes Bay should be closely monitoring the regular updates across the next few days”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz suggests people download the Auckland Civil Defence APP – which is free.  

We also suggest you stay up to date with any warnings funded by the NZ Govt out of MetService.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says some rain can be expected from Pam – and it may be heavy enough for weather warnings – but generally speaking wind and incredibly rough seas look to be the main feature at this stage.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz