Heavy rain, snow, thunderstorms enveloping much of NZ

Monday, 20 August 2018

Permin Road, in Tasman is flooded after heavy rain Monday.

A low sitting to the west of the country is feeding several fronts across the North Island as rain continues to fall.

The week kicked off with heavy rain in the west of the upper South Island and the west of the North Island, snow further south - and even tornados amid predictions of widespread thunderstorms.

Kina Beach Rd in Tasman floods from a deluge of rain over just a few hours on Monday morning.

By the end of Monday, the band of rain had moved east and was slightly easing - but it was just the start of what's expected to be a sodden week.

MetService meteorologist Tom Bell said just after 8pm: 'Generally speaking, the main low centre is still to the west of the South Island and that is feeding a number of fronts over mainly the North Island at the moment.

* Tornados damage homes in central New Plymouth and Ohope**

'There's kind of one main frontal band that has a good solid solid amount of rain associated with it and there's a few other troughs that have rain and showers associated with them.'

At the time, the areas with the most rain were from Wellington, up to Whanganui and from the Central Plateau up through the Waikato and moving up towards Auckland.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected for much of the country on Monday.

'That could bring a few more thunderstorms and lightning strikes but that activity is generally on an easing trend at the moment.'

Bell said it was 'just a set up at the moment.'

'It's just going to continue to feed showers over the country, mainly the North Island and the west of the South Island at least through tomorrow.

'Showers are continuing on Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday.'

Earlier on Monday, heavy rain hit the Taranaki district.

By 3pm, Dawson Falls at Mount Taranaki had received 114.5mm of rain in 12 hours - the highest total countrywide. Nearby, North Egmont received 91mm in the same time.

MetService meteorologist Matthew Ford had said the rain and cold temperatures in the south would combine for snowfall at higher altitudes.

And early-morning snow briefly closed the Lewis Pass, which connects North Canterbury to the West Coast.

The stretch of State Highway 7 between Hanmer Springs and Springs Junction was closed just after 7.30am but reopened later in the morning.

Two tornados struck homes in New Plymouth and near Whakatāne, causing extensive damage on Monday afternoon.

WHAT'S ON THE WAY

Overnight, a heavy rain warning remains in place for Nelson west of Motueka and Buller until 6am, with peak intensities up to 25mm per hour on top of the rain that has already fallen.

Extensive thunderstorm warnings remain in place for the western and upper South Island and the majority of the North Island south of Auckland.

In some places, the risk is severe.

The risk of thunderstorms over the majority of the North Island will remain for all of Tuesday.

Heavy rain watches have been issued for the ranges of Bay of Plenty east of Opotiki until 2.00am on Tuesday and Tongariro National Park until 11pm Monday.

The MetService severe weather outlook states: 'A large complex trough moves slowly across New Zealand this week, delivering unsettled weather to many parts of the country.

'An associated front is forecast to move eastwards across central and northern New Zealand during Wednesday and Thursday, delivering rain and strong northwesterly winds to these areas … a cool southerly flow is expected to spread over the South Island during Wednesday and Thursday, bringing periods of rain, and snow to the ranges of Southland, Otago, Canterbury and Marlborough, but the forecast rainfall and snow amounts are not expected to reach warning criteria at this stage.

'On Friday, the complex low pressure system should move away to the east of New Zealand, spreading the cool south to southwest flow over the entire country through Saturday.'