Saturday has been a pretty wet day for the upper and western regions of the South Island. The cause of the rainfall has been a slow moving frontal boundary. A boundary that will now make its way a bit further north and start to spread rain over much of the North Island tomorrow.

The far southern regions of the NI saw some rain today with some heavy rain falling about Taranaki. Government forecaster MetService is continuing their Heavy Rain Warnings for Taranaki through tomorrow. MetService expects another 250 to 350mm of rain about the upper slopes by midday on Monday.

Rain chances will go up across much of the NI during the overnight hours. Most areas should see some rain by morning. Gisborne and Northland may have to wait until midday for the rain.

Heavy rain chances should remain confined to the Taranaki region tomorrow. Isolated pockets of heavy rain are possible about Wanganui and Wairarapa, but the chances aren’t very good.

Wind is also a concern tomorrow. Severe gales are possible about the lower North Island and far upper South Island. The Marlborough Sounds, Wellington and southern Wairarapa are at greatest risk for developing severe north to northwest gales overnight and early Sunday morning.  This does not mean the gales WILL develop.  However, conditions appear ripe for their development.

For the South Island tomorrow, many areas are looking at a dry day for at least half the day. It may not start out that way though with morning rain chances for much of the island, and the rain may linger about the upper South Island during the afternoon and evening. But the eastern and southern parts of the island are likely to see things settle by midday. The West Coast may have to wait until mid-afternoon.

Homepage image/  Zelda Wynn

By WeatherWatch Analyst Howard Joseph