MetService’s rain radar shows rain intensifying in Auckland from around 9pm on Thursday - just two hours after New Zealand and Norway kick off in the opening match of the tournament.
Heavy rain is expected to strike Northland on Thursday evening before moving into Auckland and, potentially, the Coromandel Peninsula.
“The intensity of the rain could be enough to cause localised, surface flooding for the likes of Northland and maybe northern Auckland,” Noll said.
“The winds will also be quite strong, I think for especially east coast areas of Northland and northern Auckland.”
MetService said it was moderately confident that warning levels of rain will fall across these regions.
Noll said the rest of the North Island will be blustery on Friday.
The silver lining was that the bad weather would begin to settle by the weekend for most but with some rain potentially lingering across eastern areas of the North Island.
Southland, Otago and Canterbury can expect rain and lower-level snowfall from tomorrow.
Heavy rain watches have been issued for Fiordland from midday tomorrow through to 3am on Thursday and for Westland south of the glaciers from 9pm tomorrow to 6am on Thursday.
Snowfall in Southland and Otago could reach as low as 300m.
“That is certainly going to be impacting some towns across the inland portions of those regions,” said Noll.
“Some snow could accumulate on the roadways in those regions, especially in the pass roads.”
Noll advised motorists to be mindful of the conditions.
