After a summer of dry weather, record high temperatures and drought Northland
may finally get some decent rain today, but it could be heavy.
The MetService has issued a "weather watch" for the upper half of the North Island, including Northland, warning of bursts of heavy rain from this afternoon until Thursday.
The MetService said a humid north to northeast airstream was expected to spread over the upper North Island this afternoon and evening as a low moved slowly south over the Tasman Sea.
Rain with heavy, possibly thundery, falls is expected from Northland to western Bay of Plenty from late today through into Thursday.
There is also the possibility that rainfall accumulations will reach warning levels in Northland. That could then lead to isolated surface flooding.
The rain is expected to last into next week and it's not known at this stage if it will be enough to lift Northland's drought.
Despite the rain - and it being autumn - MetService is forecasting daily high temperatures to remain between 24C and 27C for the next week or so.
Northland has had its fourth hottest and fifth driest summer on record and there was an all-time daily high of 31.8C on February 13 - the hottest day in the 50 years weather data has been collected at Whangarei Airport.
To keep up to date with the latest forecasts check out www.metservice.com.