Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Northland rain likely to go from weekend, but muggy nights to stay a bit longer

By Mike Dinsdale & Peter de Graaf
Northern Advocate·
5 May, 2023 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rainbow Falls, in Kerikeri, was a torrent around 2pm on Friday with flood waters created by the storm hitting Northland. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Rainbow Falls, in Kerikeri, was a torrent around 2pm on Friday with flood waters created by the storm hitting Northland. Photo / Peter de Graaf

There’s good news and not-so-good news for weather watchers as Northland remains sodden from almost a week of rain: the bad weather should ease over the weekend but sticky, humid nights will remain until the end of next week.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said Northland had been battered by strong winds and heavy rain for almost a week – which followed the wettest start to a year ever in the region – with an Orange Heavy Rain Warning in place for Northland until 6am today.

‘’It’s not just one day for Northland, though, it’s been on and off up there for such a long period of time. You’ve been hammered by the weather recently.’’

Clark said the top half of Northland got the worst of yesterday’s weather, with surface flooding closing some roads.

In the 24 hours to 3pm on Friday, Cape Reinga recorded the highest rainfall total of 84mm. Kaikohe recorded 70.2mm during the same period, with Kaitaia getting 67mm, Whangārei 29.8mm and Dargaville 27.8mm.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On Friday afternoon four roads in the Far North were closed by flooding, all in the Doubtless Bay and wider Kaitāia areas.

They were Taumata Rd, Taipā; Whangape Rd, Herekino; Peria Rd, Peria; and Inland Rd, Karikari Peninsula. Motorists needing to access Karikari Peninsula had to use the Inland Rd bypass. Kaitāia-Awaroa Rd and Commerce St in Kaitāia reopened after closing on Thursday due to surface flooding.

Another 13 roads across the Far North had restricted access due to flooding, overslips, washouts or fallen trees. Miro Place, Mangatoetoe Rd, Duncan Rd, Wireless Rd and Bell Rd, all in the Kaitāia area, were passable by four-wheel-drive vehicle only.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Roads that were open but where caution was required included West Coast Rd, Waiotehue Rd, Church Rd, Waiotemarama Gorge Rd, and Hooks and Halls Rd. Wekaweka Rd, in South Hokianga, was passable but drivers had to avoid large boulders scattered on the road.

Kerikeri Rd, near the intersection with Access Rd, was affected by significant surface flooding after a late morning downpour.

Two police officers were seen going well beyond the call of duty around 12.30pm, kneeling in the floodwaters and clearing out a blocked drain by hand. The floodwater quickly dissipated.

‘’It’s clear from those [rainfall] figures that the system has been coming slowly down the country, and from Saturday will start heading south,” Clark said. “But it’s meandered backwards and forwards over Northland a few times and has really hung around.

‘’It’s brought some warm, humid air with it on what we call a warm conveyor, which is like a conveyor belt bringing the really moist air from the subtropics. As a result, overnight temperatures have been very high for the time of year and causing all that humidity that makes it hard to sleep at night.’’

Clark said overnight temperatures had been 4C to 8C above May averages, with such a small gap between daytime highs and overnight lows.

‘’For example, Whangārei had a forecast overnight low for Friday of 21C, but the overnight low is forecast to be 18C. That’s not a big difference at all and why you are feeling the sticky heat at night.

‘’You’d normally be happy with those temperatures during the day, but overnight, with the clouds acting like a blanket to keep the heat in, can make it a bit unbearable.’’

Whangārei and Kaitaia are forecast to have an overnight low of 17C tonight and Sunday, with highs of 20C in both centres.

Clark said the rain would largely be gone by Monday or Tuesday, with a chance the system could turn back on the region, but an end to the sticky nights would take a few days longer.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On Thursday, cooler air would arrive to “chase the humidity away” and provide some relief from the mugginess. Overnight temperatures should start drooping from then.

Clark said that, with the amount of rain Northland had received in recent months, the ground was very sodden, so more rain increased the chance of flooding and slips.

Meanwhile, the Niwa climate forecast for the three months to the end of July predict Northland will have warmer than average temperatures, while rainfall is expected to be around normal.




Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Art exhibition marks Whangārei’s place in Rainbow Warrior bombing 40 years on

09 Jul 12:00 AM
Northern Advocate

National Māori leader stands for Northland Regional Council

08 Jul 05:00 PM
Northern Advocate

News in brief: Deadline extended for story submissions

08 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Art exhibition marks Whangārei’s place in Rainbow Warrior bombing 40 years on

Art exhibition marks Whangārei’s place in Rainbow Warrior bombing 40 years on

09 Jul 12:00 AM

Whangārei was the staging ground for the French agents who bombed the Rainbow Warrior.

National Māori leader stands for Northland Regional Council

National Māori leader stands for Northland Regional Council

08 Jul 05:00 PM
News in brief: Deadline extended for story submissions

News in brief: Deadline extended for story submissions

08 Jul 05:00 PM
Kiwi duo tackle world's longest paddling race in bear territory

Kiwi duo tackle world's longest paddling race in bear territory

08 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP