Highest temperatures in the country for Whanganui as severe thunderstorm watch placed

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Whanganui between 2pm and 9pm today. Photo / NZME

While claiming the warmest location in the country at midday on Tuesday, Whanganui and surrounding areas have been issued a severe thunderstorm watch.

The thunderstorm watch is currently for 2pm-9pm on Tuesday.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said Whanganui residents should keep an eye out on the rain radar.

“The ingredients for a thunderstorm to develop are there, but where exactly the thunderstorms do develop is a little bit up in the air at the moment.”

He said those ingredients included light winds, good daytime heating and heavy rain.

“A good analogy is making popcorn in a pot. You’ve got a whole lot of kernels and you’re heating the pot.

“Saying where the thunderstorms will be exactly is like saying which kernel is going to pop first. It’s quite difficult to pin down.”

Corrigan said for Whanganui the chance of a severe thunderstorm was less than 50 per cent but it was still worth being aware in case there was one.

“In the case of a severe thunderstorm, we can see downpours of 25-40mm an hour, and this rainfall can cause surface flooding and poor visibility which makes driving hazardous.”

Tuesday afternoon around midday recorded 25.9C at the city station, making it the warmest place in the country, Corrigan said.

Whanganui was in for a warm week, he said.

“There may be showers but it will be largely sunny, with temperatures getting up to 25C all the way through the week.

“And overnight minimums for the week are consistently looking to be around 16C, which is 3-4C higher than the average for December.”

He said Friday would get up to 27C.