KEY POINTS:
The nation's biggest centres are in for the wettest weather today. An unstable area around Auckland could produce a few heavy showers around the city - one may also pop up later in the day across Hamilton. Cloudy conditions in Wellington may see a few drizzle patches and
a shower is possible in Christchurch. Meanwhile Dunedin may have some rain to contend with. It's not going to be a lot of rain but I think Auckland stands the biggest chance of a wet Tuesday - and while half of the city may stay dry showers are in the forecast, especially in the afternoon as that late heating takes place.
Speaking of Auckland's forecast the Weather Watch Centre yesterday launched our very own Auckland weather forecast. We thought Aucklanders would like the opportunity to read our own independent forecasts considering we talk about the weather ever day! It's only Auckland at this stage, and we offer a long range forecast, you can find it at www.weatherwatch.co.nz. And like the Herald we've made our site iPhone and iPod Touch capable.
It's just a trial and we hope to add other regions at another time too! But enough self promotion! Lets go on with today's weather talking points...
Rain?
A pool of unstable air over Auckland and surrounding regions (like Coromandel, BoP, Northland and maybe Waikato) could see more showers popping up...especially in the afternoon. Yesterday a few showers appeared, some pretty big along with high humidity. There may even be a few thunderstorms over these regions.
In the south a weak front will move into Southland...it might not go much further north than that thanks to the big high over the country.
Wind?
Mostly sea breezes and light winds again today thanks to that high. With those showers and lack of wind it could get pretty muggy in a number of areas.
Sun?
Cloudy periods are likely today - the high has a couple of fronts caught up in it so it's a 'dirty' high if you like. The lack of wind and high humidity means there even be fog patches about in the North Island...and in summer that's often followed by afternoon thunderstorms.
Temps:
Hot and humid over the top third, late teens/early 20s for the middle third and the bottom third mid to upper teens.
Finally, I receive a lot of emails from people telling me the current temps and readings where they are - I encourage you to post those comments below as I know other readers love seeing private weather station recordings. I don't mind if they're not "official"... some of them can be very accurate and not to mention very interesting.
- Philip Duncan