Weather: Wet winter not over yet for drenched Tasman region
Photo:
Samantha Gee / RNZ
More wet weather is on the way for the top of the South Island, with MetService again issuing heavy rain warnings for Tasman - a region still recovering from recent storms.
A weather front, moving east across the country, is expected to bring up to 180mm of rain to the region.
There were orange rain warnings in place for Tasman east and south of Motueka, Nelson and Marlborough west of Havelock, and north of the Wairau River, through to Tuesday evening.
Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane told
Morning Report
on Monday there was a moderate chance of those upgrading to red.
"We've just been under this period of those weather fronts moving through bringing heavy rain as well as strong winds.
"And as we saw with the last one, those rainfall amounts maybe weren't the biggest, but they still had the potential to bring those impacts."
Heavy rain and flooding
hit the area in June
, and the ground was still sodden when more rain arrived a week later,
prompting evacutations
, then
again
later in the July.
"It is really tied to how much rain we're expecting and what the expected impact from that rain will be," Makgabutlane explained.
Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane.
Photo:
Screenshot
"Even if it doesn't get upgraded to a red warning that area is still quite sensitive, looking at what's happened over the last couple of weeks, and definitely still want to keep a very close eye on."
Forecasters should have a better idea later on Monday as more information was collected.
"Tuesday is the day when we're expecting that front to move through. That warning starts around [2am], so yeah, that overnight early morning Tuesday and throughout the day as that weather system passes through."
It should clear by the end of the day.
In the North Island there were strong wind warnings across Northland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty expected on Tuesday. Coromandel residents might also get heavy rain, with a high chance of it reaching warning level.
A heavy rain warning was already in place for Taranaki Maunga and a heavy rain watch for the central mountain ranges, while strong winds were possible to the south.
While it had been for the most part a warm winter, that comfort brought with it wetter conditions.
"It's very similar to what we've been seeing over the last few weeks, and I'm sure people would have been feeling - apart from last week, it was quite cold last week - but prior to that, it was quite warm or relatively warm for this time of year," Makgabutlane said.
"These northerly airflows [are] what we're feeling bringing those warmer temperatures as well as this moist airflow that's been bringing all of this rain."
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