The low that brought the stormy weather to northern New Zealand yesterday has stalled this morning over the Waikato but is still slowing track east towards Bay of Plenty, where it’s expected to ‘die’ this afternoon.

As of 11:30am the centre of the low was passing over Hamilton city but is weakening.  A band of heavy showers and rain lie within a 200km radius of the centre bringing heavy rain to places north of Auckland, across parts of Central Plateau and off the Taranaki coast.

2500 lightning strikes have been detected around the North Island today but almost all have been offshore and are continuing to ease.

The low is part of a much larger pool of low air pressure which has been dubbed “the 7 day low” by WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters.  Today is day 5 that the system has been affecting the country and it’s predicted to completely clear New Zealand on Thursday followed quickly by another deep low, but this time south of New Zealand.

Gales are possible from Wellington southwards – we’ll have more details on this low later today.