Hit and miss. Rain brings flooding to Otago, thunderstorms & hail across both islands. Others miss out. (20+ Maps)
3/01/2021 5:06am
UPDATED 6:06pm — Thunderstorms continue to expand and subtract across various regions as clouds bubble away in the afternoon warmth.
MetService has updated their severe thunderstorm outlook this afternoon to cover isolated tornados and large hail.
A weak and large area of low pressure continues to cover the entire nation with Sunday looking remarkably similar to Saturday’s set up.
No two days are ever precisely the same when it comes to downpours and thunderstorms but the risk zones cover the same areas – most of the North Island, especially inland, and also over the lower eastern South Island.
Once again some who need rain will miss out, despite what is forecast. This is due to the complicated nature of afternoon downpours which bubble up randomly within those risk zones and get pushed along slowly by very localised winds sometimes.
The lower eastern South Island (Otago, Canterbury, maybe Northern Southland) may have more flooding today with heavy downpours, hail, flooding and even tornados possible. The region has gone from being too dry to very wet, very fast.
The North Island also has flooding risks with isolated downpours slowly moving through once again.
Tornado risks are for isolated smaller sized ones (but still potentially very dangerous) in Otago and Hawke’s Bay.
Like Saturday, large areas will be dry and may miss out on the biggest totals. Your local estimated rainfall totals may not pan out precisely for everyone with these intense showers having the potential to produce higher totals if they track slower – but, at the same time, the terrain and light breezes around NZ may shift these downpours away from areas that need rain most.
We’ll again be providing extra updates across the afternoon on Twitter (@WeatherWatchNZ)
Here’s how to track the downpours:
- Thunderstorm Risk Maps
- Official MetService Weather Warnings
- NZ Rain Radar Network
- (All links above are WeatherWatch.co.nz pages)
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Peter Thomas Langer on 3/01/2021 11:44am
why is it raining down south in a la nina only nov acted like a la nina i have lived through many la ninas and they should bring drought to the south and that includes hawke bay and wellington
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