Heavy rains, northeasterly gales heading for the north after Australian deluge
Friday, 30 November 2018
Heavy rains and northeasterly gales are expected to hit the north of the country in the next few days as the broad low that deluged parts of New South Wales moves eastward over the northern Tasman Sea.
A front associated with the large low is expected to move south over the North Island during Friday and Saturday, bring heavy rain to the upper North Island, MetService said.
Strong northeasterlies could reach gale force ahead of the front in Northland and Auckland on Friday, with average wind speeds reaching 80kmh in Auckland overnight Friday, while gusts could get to 100kmh.
Northeasterlies could also approach gale strength in Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato on Saturday.
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Heavy rain could start falling in Northland from mid-afternoon Friday and last through to 6am Saturday. In Auckland the heavy rain could start late evening Friday and last through to late morning Saturday.
MetService has high confidence that rainfall will be heavy in Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne from Saturday through to Sunday. There's moderate confidence of heavy rain over the weekend in northwest Nelson.
The stormy weekend in the north comes after plenty of rain across much of the country during the past week. As a result, soils across the North Island have become considerable wetter than a week ago, and in the South Island, soils are much wetter than normal from central Canterbury to Southland.
Niwa data shows the central Manawatu-Whanganui area is the only sizeable part of the North Island where soils are substantially drier than usual. In the South Island, the northwest is the only substantially drier area.