Attention Northland, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay – wet weather is coming this week.  It’s the first time this year we’ve seen a significant rain event for all three regions, in fact it’s the first time in a number of months.

Last week Northland was officially recognised as being in drought by the NZ Government and also WeatherWatch.co.nz announced that Gisborne also has drought conditions with Hawke’s Bay similar too – but the rain expected this week will likely linger in the Gisborne area in particular.

Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa will receive a mix of drizzle and downpours overnight tonight/early Wednesday morning. As the rain clouds move into the Gisborne area they are likely to intensify.

It’s an unusual set up with a wet south east flow across the Upper North Island for Thursday. 

This means Gisborne, western Bay of Plenty, eastern Coromandel Peninsula and eastern Northland are all candidates for rain this week. As for totals – they will be incredibly varied due to the patchy nature of the rain clouds plus our large mountains/ranges – but we may be seeing 20 to 40mm of rain falling in a number of areas (+/- 10mm or so). Gisborne City may receive 30 to 40mm.

At this stage we don’t think the rain will be enough to reverse any drought conditions in Northland but the rain does have potential to put a dent in Gisborne’s drought.

Hawke’s Bay, being on the fringes, may be disappointed with how much falls – but there is still potential for some heavier downpours, especially in the north of the region (that missed out on rain last Thursday when the cricket was rained out in Napier).

Check out the 10 day % of rain along the east coast of the North Island:

• Masterton
• Napier
• Wairoa
• Gisborne
• Tauranga
• Tairua
• Whangarei

7am Weds – Showers in Central Hawke’s Bay turns to patchier rain further north towards Gisborne, but clears from Wairarapa early in the day.

7am Thursday shows just a few showers or patchy light rain in Hawke’s Bay but set in soaking rains for Gisborne, spilling over into BOP and even Waikato (but may be lighter than this map suggests). Heavier downpours spread into Coromandel Peninsula and eastern Northland.

7pm Thursday – That’s all folks, rain clouds are packing up and clearing back out into the Pacific Ocean. Lingering showers/patchy rain clears eastern Northland and East Cape/Gisborne.

– Maps by Weathermap.co.nz

– WeatherWatch.co.nz