> From the WeatherWatch archives
Farmers prayers to be answered
Rain, rain everywhere from Northland to Southland a tropical storm is continuing to deepen and is set to dump healthy rainfalls to a number of areas. Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says many farmers will be happy. “A tropical low moving in from the north west will bring significant rainfall to Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and more importantly, Waikato”. He says with every weather update rainfall amounts continue to grow as confidence levels rise over where exactly this low will go. “Northland is expected to receive most of the rain in the North Island thanks to the slow movement of the front”.
Government forecaster MetService has a severe weather watch in force to Northland, Nelson and the west coast of the South Island.
Duncan says eastern areas of both islands will remain dry, with extremely dry farms in Wairarapa receiving very little if any rain from this system.
Southland farmers will also be happy, the tropical storm will merge with another low in the Southern Ocean this weekend, bringing much needed rain to low lying farms. “Rainfal confidence is about 70% for Saturday night which is pretty strong. Either way there are a few wet days on the way for the lower South Island”.
However Duncan warns the combination of the two lows will mean very strong winds. “The tropical storm will bring strong winds to northern New Zealand on Friday then when it merges with the Southern Ocean low this weekend it could create winds well into gale force in eastern areas from Christchurch southwards”.
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Before you add a new comment, take note this story was published on 20 Feb 2008.
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