Bay of Plenty weather: Heavy rain watch in place until Monday morning, wet week ahead

More rain is expected during the coming week. Photo / Alex Cairns

A heavy rain watch is in place in parts of the Bay of Plenty until 6am tomorrow, MetService says.

Possible thunderstorms and periods of heavy rain are forecast for the Bay of Plenty from Edgecumbe westwards, says a MetService weather watch warning which came into effect at 8am today.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said parts of the Bay of Plenty had “a good amount of rain” in the last couple of days, with Tauranga Airport recording 83mm between 12pm on Friday and 12pm today.

Waihi and Waihī Beach recorded 90mm during the same period.

By comparison, Whakatāne recorded 25.6mm and Rotorua Airport recorded 18.3mm during that time, Corrigan said.

“At the moment what we’re seeing is a slow-moving band of rain with some thunderstorms over Te Puke and that’s not going particularly far very fast.”

Looking ahead, Corrigan said there was “more rain on the way”.

More rain was expected on Monday throughout the Bay of Plenty, most of which would clear by the afternoon.

“Going into Tuesday, Wednesday, we’re looking at some breaks of blue sky getting in there, the odd shower but we’re not looking at any steady or persistent rain or anything like that.”

Corrigan said a “low-pressure system” coming from the Tasman Sea on Thursday or Friday, which could bring further heavy rain to the region.

A MetService severe weather outlook said there was “low confidence” that rainfall amounts would reach warning criteria in the Bay of Plenty west of Whakatāne on Thursday and Friday. Low confidence means there is a 20 per cent likelihood the event will happen.

“There’s a bit of uncertainty exactly when that’s going to arrive because that system hasn’t yet developed in real life. This is what the weather models are predicting at the moment but it’s got room to change in the week ahead between now and then.

“We’ll be keeping everyone informed about that.”