The low in the eastern Tasman Sea, near New Zealand, doesn’t look very spectacular on the satellite map.  So why is that?

Basically the low is fed by moist air that it pulls down from its north eastern quarter.

With the low so large and wide, all the moisture is being pulled down on the eastern side of New Zealand – and the air is mostly dry when it passes over the Southern Alps and gets pulled back towards the centre.

The centre of the low has been fairly unimpressive on satellite images, almost impossible to pick at times by the untrained eye.

However the low is likely to generate more moisture today with some heavy showers move into the west coast of the North Island this afternoon and into tomorrow.

Image: The eye of the severe low hardly even showing up directly west of the Nelson region.  Image / Weather.com