Thundery downpours bring some relief to drought-stricken parts of New Zealand by Rob McElwee
A tropical weather front that hit New Zealand on Sunday night is expected to hang over the North Island for much of this week.
Rain from this weather system is likely to spread over much of the North Island and also into north-western parts of the South Island by Tuesday. The Met Service have issued a weather watch for parts of Auckland, Waikato and Nelson and heavy rain warnings are in place for Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne.
According to the local weather department, this front bears the hallmarks of being able to produce a significant rainfall event in the Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne.
The Met Service says “This is already the wettest episode that Hamilton has had since early February”.
Drought-stricken Waikato and Taranaki farmers will get some relief – their arid paddocks should get a good soaking for the first half of the week, and showers are forecast to continue. Some areas could receive as much as 100mm of rain (approx 4 ins), although the full benefits will not be seen on the fields until early May.
The rain is also good news for power companies, which have been anxiously watching falling hydro lake levels.
The Met Service say La Nina is still pushing warmer weather from the tropics to New Zealand, a pattern likely to continue for a while.
|
|
