Parts of the country are being advised to have raincoats and umbrellas on standby, with wet weather and possible thunderstorms on the move from the south.
A 4 hour loop of the rain radar showing the progress of the front as it makes its way up the South Island. A station at Franz Josef has already recorded over 30mm of rain in the last 6 hours. For more https://t.co/Yjbq0jxdqz ^MB. pic.twitter.com/O0X8xj2pQp
— MetService (@MetService) January 13, 2019
Heavy rain prompted MetService to issue a severe weather watch for Fiordland and Westland today, and that active front is set to move up the country from tonight.
MetService meteorologist Mark Bowe said that could mean thunderstorms and hail for western and eastern parts of the South Island this evening, and for parts of the North Island tomorrow and Tuesday.
"It's going to be a wet start to the week, particularly for the North Island and actually as we go into Tuesday and Wednesday particularly for the eastern parts of the North Island are going to get some wet weather, things should be fine and dry though for the South Island just in behind this front as it moves off."
Mr Bowe said it should be a good start to the week for South Island but the North Island will be wet.
NIWA has tweeted that the dry spell is about to end for many.
Check out how much ️ has fallen in January so far
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) January 12, 2019
As of this morning, ❗18❗ is the number of consecutive dry days observed in locations like Auckland, Wellington, Whangarei and Nelson .
The dry spell will be ending for many today & tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/IWCjkAtlPG
