Northlanders will have better warning of approaching storms and heavy rain once a new weather radar is fully up and running later this month.
The MetService radar has been built on a 385m-high hilltop on private farmland off Martin Rd in Kaeo.
The elevated site atop Huia Hill will allow the radar to "see" about 300km in all directions - 120km beyond the Three Kings Islands to the north, and as far as Auckland in the south.
Currently the country's northernmost weather radar, near Warkworth, only covers as far north as the Bay of Islands.
The new radar station, to be officially opened on July 28, will be the ninth in the MetService network and the last of five new radars built over the past six years for earlier and more accurate warnings of heavy rain and thunderstorms.