More rain will change to fine and muggy weather for North this week

Whangarei Aquatic Centre staff member Troy Buck gets a sweat up during a training session. Photo / John Stone

Up to 25mm of rain an hour could be dumped in parts of Northland today but the rest of the week the showers will ease but the air will remain muggy.

A rain band which brought a heavy downpour throughout the region last weekend before moving to the Bay of Plenty late on Sunday is expected to move back to Northland.

"That rain band will make its second appearance in Northland from Tuesday morning and expect up to 25mm of rain per hour and isolated thunderstorms before moving off to the west in the evening," MetService meteorologist April Clark said.

The muggy subtropical air, she said, would stick around for the week which meant humidity would be "quite high".

Humidity will be 94 per cent today, 83 per cent tomorrow,82 per cent on Thursday, 76 per cent on Friday, 81 per cent on Saturday and 91 per cent on Sunday.

Organisers of two major events in Whangarei this weekend are hoping they don't have to either cancel or postpone them because of rain.

Daytime temperatures in Whangarei and Kaitaia will be in the late 20s for the rest of this week while night temperatures are likely to remain at 19C or 20C.

In Kerikeri and Paihia, day temperatures will drop to 17C from tomorrow.

Ms Clark said the forecast for tomorrow was for a cloudy day with isolated showers to start from about 12pm while the sun should be out in Northland for the rest of the week except Sunday when more rain is forecast.

She said the effects of Cyclone Gita could be felt in Northland early next week but that would become clearer closer to the weekend.

The cyclone hit Samoa on Saturday morning and a state of emergency has been declared in the island nation as well as in neighbouring Tonga where it was expected last night.

Jodie Hannam, organiser of the Ray White White Plate— a three-course meal held on the Canopy Bridge - said last year's event was called off because of bad weather so Forum North had been booked as a wet-weather option.

"Last year it got rained off so all the restaurants in town were filled with people wearing white," Ms Hannam said.

Meanwhile, the Beach and Boat Fishing competition at the Marsden Cove Marina is also being held on Friday and Saturday.

Competition owner Candice Lawson said she was keeping an eye on the weather forecast which was improving.

She said if she had to call off the event for safety reasons it would be based on advice from Coastguard.

Because the event is so large and people travel from as far away as Australia it could not be postponed, she said.

If it had to be cancelled, the daily prizes would be drawn and given away.