Heavy snow in Queenstown late yesterday. Images by Chris S.

Big hail storms are continuing to pound the Wellington region today as the large wintry low continues to spiral over the entire nation.  Thunderstorms kept many awake from Wellington through to Taranaki last night.  The Lightning Detector at weatherwatch.co.nz has recorded over 8000 strikes in the first half of today and a few bands still remain out in the Tasman Sea, yet to move in.

The big low, described earlier in the week as being the size of Australia, still has a number of days to go before it clears New Zealand.  “The size of a storm doesn’t always make it more fierce but it does usually mean rather than just a few days of bad weather, we’ll get several” says Head weather Analyst Philip Duncan.  “Western and northern parts of New Zealand will see the worst of the weather easing during Saturday but showers will continue right into next week”.

Mr Duncan says Saturday sports may well be cancelled again – certainly across the North Island where heavy rain has left fields muddy under foot.

Heavy rain has been falling across the Waikato River catchments around Taupo and local Weather Watch reporter Laura Drummond says the river is running “very high”.  Latest Auckland radar images  – which cover from Central Plateau to Northland – show more heavy showers moving in for much of the day but with long dry spells in between.

Canterbury is still enjoying a relatively calm day with some cloudy periods and a chilly 6 or 7 degrees.  “The Southern Alps are protecting them from the nastiest weather at the moment – but that will change later on Sunday” says Duncan.

The Weather Watch Centre predicted on Tuesday night that light snow flurries, possibly to sea level, may affect coastal Canterbuy on Sunday or Monday.  “We’re still seeing evidence that that might happen.  We’re not talking about anything too heavy at this stage, but it gives you an indication of how cold it will be for the South Island’s east coast on Monday” says Duncan.

TRAVEL

A number of roads have been affected by the storm – for all the latest traffic information in your area click on the Time Saver Traffic link on the right hand side of this page.

What’s the weather like where you are?  Post a comment to this story!

Got photos of the bad weather?  Email to us at philipduncan@radionetwork.co.nz