Weekend weather: Storms, heavy rain possible across North Island, parts of south

The northern North Island will bear the brunt of the rain this weekend. Photo / Michael Craig

By RNZ

Heavy rain watches have been put in place for the northern half of the North Island from Saturday afternoon.

MetService has warned of heavy rain with possible downpours and thunderstorms. The forecaster said some falls could be above normal warning levels.

The warnings stretched from Northland to Auckland, Coromandel and down to Waitomo and Taupō. The warnings were from 5am to 10pm.

Across the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, MetService warned of the same from 8am Saturday until 10pm.

In the meantime, there were low risks of thunderstorms on Friday in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato, northern Waitomo, Stewart Island, Fiordland, southern Westland, eastern Bay of Plenty and northern Tai Rāwhiti.

“As the front passes over northern Otago and South Canterbury this afternoon and evening there is a low risk of thunderstorms for these regions.”

It comes after the upper North Island was hit by heavy rain overnight, especially in Auckland, Waikato and rural South Auckland. Waiuku, south of Auckland, received about 30mm of rain overnight.

By Sunday the worst should have eased, with just showers left. By Monday, the risk of severe weather would be “minimal”.

There were no heavy swell or road snowfall warnings in place as of Friday morning.