The day started off fairly quietly for many but by midday overhead conditions were changing quite rapidly in some areas.

“Getting dark here in West Auckland….just had to turn some lights on! Wish I didn’t need to go out this afternoon….I love a good storm so long as I’m safe indoors!” said Debbie on our Facebook page.

Geoff posted…”Just starting to turn dark in Auckland, as the front approaches. It’s moving very fast, so I expect we will go from calm to very windy in a short space of time once it arrives, just after midday”.
Mel added ” Getting quite dark in Helensville, wind is slowly picking up. REALLY hoping the forecast is wrong!”

Further south and a change is also on the horizon- “Very dark clouds here East of Ashburton, its got mildly windy and the wind is getting colder so its on its way” and Tina also got in touch “Turning here, just north of Rakaia and south of Leeston. Was beautiful this morning but I think it was the calm before the storm. I will don my wet weather gear before going to get the cows this afternoon”.

Judy said the Bay of Plenty was getting some action “Had another thunderstorm and rain in Whakatane – sunny with threatening clouds now”.

Another couple of posters said it’s been raining in Invercargill and Dunedin but some central areas of the nation, as we thought would take place for much of Sunday, were seeing some blue skies and sunshine with quite mild temperatures.
Wellington and Christchurch have had a very pleasant morning however to the south of Christchurch a bank of cloud could be seen which is the first sign of a significant change for the city.
Heavy rain at times could be about later today or tonight and lasting through much of Monday.

Wellington will just have to wait a few further hours before the system rolls on through the capital tonight and throughout monday and part of Tuesday.

-WeatherWatch