Ex-cyclone Ita is moving in towards the country and is expected to bring bursts of torrential tropical rain along with damaging gales.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says Ita is similar to Lusi in the sense that rain won’t be widespread for all regions – but the bursts of rain from Ita may be more intense.

“Across Thursday morning we can expect torrential bursts of tropical rain for some parts of New Zealand, especially northern and western parts of the North Island and across the day in the Upper South Island”.

“Rainfall rates may be higher than usual leading to localised or flash flooding”.

Mr Duncan says there is the risk of thunderstorms along with a low risk of an isolated tornado but the main focus will be on prolonged torrential downpours and the gale force winds which are intensified as they cross over our ranges.

“Conditions with this low are unstable – some areas may just get some wind and rain but those exposed to the most intense downpours and wind are exposed to damage”.

To see where the worst of the winds and rain will be check out our rain maps here

So far this year rain events around the North Island have mostly missed places like Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Manawatu especially.  Other regions in between and further south have also been affected, although to a lesser degree.

The remnants of Ita are packed with tropical moisture – and the low is expected to move into the Tasman and stall, or slow down and then intensify for a time.  This will allow rain bands to be slower moving, improving rainfall totals for dry regions but also tipping other areas over into flood potential.

Meanwhile gales may become damaging in some western areas especially in the lower western North Island and upper western South Island.

WeatherWatch.co.nz advises people to check out the latest public weather warnings from the government forecaster MetService.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz