The weather looks to be clearing up over the weekend for the upper North Island, but the thick of it isn’t over just yet.
Rugby fans are being recommended to take a rain jacket or umbrella to the World Cup final at Eden Park in Auckland this weekend.
1News meteorologist Dan Corbett said that the heavy rain and strong gusts that have been keeping people from Northland, Auckland, and the Coromandel inside today, would start to ease down the country overnight and into the weekend.
He said that leftover showers, “that drizzly soupy air,” will be with much of the country on Saturday. As the day heats up, there could also be one or two showers as winds converge across parts of Northland and maybe Auckland.
Corbett said that a few showers and maybe a thunderstorm could affect the weather during the early stages of Saturday’s big game between the Black Ferns and England. But for the rest of the country, it looks to be a much quieter weekend weather-wise.
While the weekend looks promising, wet weather has still been affecting many parts of the upper North Island, with MetService issuing heavy rain warnings at orange for the Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty including Rotorua and Gisborne.
The Coromandel can expect seven hours of rain this afternoon from 2pm to 9pm with a further 40 to 60 mm of rain to accumulate with peak rates of 15 to 25 mm.
For the Bay of Plenty, including Rotorua, rain is expected to fall for 13 hours starting at 2pm today and ending at 3am on Saturday. Around 70 to 120 mm of rain is expected to soak east of Kawerau, especially around the ranges east of Ōpōtiki. A further 40 to 80 mm is expected to accumulate.
Gisborne can expect 16 hours of rain stretching from 2pm today to 6am on Saturday. The ranges north of Tolaga Bay can expect 120 to 170 mm of rain, with the rest of the region experiencing 60 to 110 mm.
Northland, Auckland, including Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato north and east of Hamilton, Bay of Plenty east of Whakatāne, and Taupō east of the Lake, Manawatū and Horowhenua and the ranges of Hawke's Bay, including the eastern hills south of Hastings are all under yellow rain, wind and thunderstorm watches.
MetService is advising that motorists in affected areas drive to the conditions.
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