Weather: North Island rocked by thunderstorm, rain expected to set in

RNZ News

3 days ago

Much of the upper North Island have been rocked by thunderstorms overnight, with further thunderstorms forecasted.
Over 3000 lightning strikes were recorded on Monday night, with MetService forecasting possible thunderstorms from Tuesday morning through to Wednesday.
Kaipara Harbour was hit most, with Auckland also berated by loud bangs throughout the early morning hours on Monday.
Residents in Helensville also reported hail.
MetService's head of weather news Heather Keats said the loud thunder even gave her moment for pause.
"It scared the bejesus out of me," she told
Morning Report.
"I don't think many people in Auckland would have slept through their alarm this morning, that's for sure.
"There's quite a few of those little sparks up over Auckland at the moment. These squally thunderstorms are going to continue to kind of roll over the city like they did last night."
Keats said the majority of lightning strikes were over central Kaipara Harbour, but a few were seen in the Auckland region too.
Much of Auckland was hit by rolling thunderstorms this morning.
Photo:
RNZ / Jeremy Parkinson
A couple of storms have bubbled up over the city but will slowly head out offshore and clear in Auckland and the Upper North Island throughout the morning, she said.
"It's been a pretty unstable couple of days with one weather system kind of pushing in that westerly flow over the Upper North but we still have that biting southerly coming up from the south that's been responsible for the cold temperatures and the snow," she said.
Keats advised morning commuters and parents dropping off their children at school to keep an eye on the rain radar, with strong winds and heavy rain expected until about 9am.
MetService meteorologist Devlin Linden said cooler temperatures in the northern region overnight played a part.
"Thunderstorms are all about buoyancy, so to speak - so the lift of air, and it creates kind of unstable conditions and that's when we start getting the lightning strikes and thunderstorms."
Linden said the weather should ease over the morning.
"At the moment it's just a morning risk as we head into the afternoon, and towards midday things should clear off and the risk is minimal from there on.
He said hail had also been recorded, along with about 13mm of rain in parts of Auckland.
MetService said there would not be "much of a breather" though before more wet weather "makes its way onto the north of the country come mid-Tuesday, and the rest of the country on Wednesday".
Linden said the possibility of more thunder and lightning was possible.
"From Tuesday morning and through Wednesday, we are expecting rain and cloud, especially across the upper North Island where there may be thunderstorms."
He said the cold chill should ease up near the end of the week.
"There will still be a touch more pre-season snow on the ski fields, but for most, it'll feel like winter's icy grip has eased."
However, Linden said rain was also expected to spread across the North Island from Tuesday morning, with Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Taranaki bearing the brunt.
3-day outlook: ⛅️️ After a wet and freezing weekend, Monday and Tuesday morning is looking up for some, however we don't get much of a breather, with more wet weather set to makes its way onto the north of the country come mid-Tuesday, and the rest of the country on…
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Keats said snow that forced the closure of parts of State Highway 8 and State Highway 80 is starting to finally clear.
Two sections of State Highway in the Mackenzie Country that were closed overnight Saturday - because of risk from snow and ice -
but reopened Sunday morning.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said the crews had been busy gritting and treating areas of ice on the roads.
Keats said there are still a couple of road snowfall warnings in place for Lewis Pass and Porters Pass until about 9am this morning,
"There's been quite a bit of rain that's pushed in over the Canterbury region overnight so Port Hills has had some snow again and today it'll be to about 700 metres but definitely easing as those showers clear out of the South Island today," she said.
She said people would have noticed that today is a couple of degrees warmer than Sunday in places like Wellington and Dunedin.
"It is starting to feel a little warmer and it will continue to warm back to average today and tomorrow and then even slightly above average for the North Island as we head into the week," she said.
The coldest place in New Zealand this morning was Mt Hutt at -7 degrees Celsius, while Manapouri Airport in Te Anau recorded -4 degrees.
Keats also said the big swells in Cook Strait will ease, but warned a new weather rain system could hit mid-week.
"We've got a new big deep low pressure system out over the Tasman and that's actually starting to influence our weather from today heading into this week and that's going to see the next bout of rain the next large swells and we can expect pretty unsettled kind of week from about Wednesday."
Snow making machines going full throttle at Coronet Peak on Thursday afternoon.
Photo:
Supplied
Ski fields are counting down the days until they open after the wintry blast over the weekend.
Major ski fields in the South Island are set to open later this week.
Coronet Peak ski area manager Nigel Kerr was delighted by the fresh snow dump that was covering their buildings, decks and lifts.
"I've just got out of a pit where we're digging down to find the building, which was about 50 centimetres of snow, quite well packed," he said.
"It will get people excited because it means we're going to get away to a reasonably good start on time and that is a great thing in the winter industry."
He was sleeping well, knowing that their 400 staff would be employed from day one.
The start of the season would be driven by locals but the snow dump sent a message to ski bunnies across Aotearoa and across the Tasman that they could book with confidence, Kerr said.
He was itching to get his skis on and hit the slopes over the weekend.
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