Heavy rain is now pushing down the entire eastern coastline of New Zealand thanks to a large low that’s actually centered on the other side of the country reports WeatherWatch.co.nz.

The low, which head weather analyst Philip Duncan says is peaking in strength today, is currently pushing heavy rain into the Gisborne region and rain, some heavy falls, is also moving into Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Canterbury and north Otago.

Meanwhile the third main rain band from this eight day low is now spreading across Northland and will head towards Auckland and surrounding regions this afternoon.

And yet another band of torrential rain is moving towards the Taranaki and Nelson regions, mainly towards Nelson, which is being produced near the centre of the low itself.

Mr Duncan says many parts of New Zealand will have rain today, but not all will have it heavy.  “Some areas will have drizzle, others only a few showers, but certainly a big chunk of New Zealand will have rain at some point across Tuesday and Tuesday night”.

“While this low has generally stalled in the Tasman Sea the centre is actually shifting around quite a bit.  Right now it lies several hundred kilometres west of Taranaki, by tonight it will lie just a few hundred kilometres west of Auckland as it turns back on-itself again and heads north”.

The low will yet again turn around and head south this weekend.

Mr Duncan says the low is effectively “trapped” in the Tasman Sea by a strong high south of the country and another large one out to the east.  “It’s stuck in the Tasman Sea and shifting around tyring to get out.  The low is peaking today and slowly cannibalising itself, eating up all its fuel and energy, and will start to weaken from now on, finally dying out this coming Sunday and Monday after being with us for around eight days”

– Homepage image / File. more heavy rain today is likely to cause minor flooding in some areas / Simon Williams

– WeatherWatch.co.nz