Rain a welcome sight for many

Flooding around Hokianga on Friday evening. Photo / Lawrence Hill

The downpour that hit Auckland and the upper North Island on Friday would have to be the longest deluge I've been in for about 7 years...possible twice that long. To me the weather was perfect. I love a good storm and I especially enjoy good solid rain.

While Auckland certainly has its fair share of rain each year it is very unusual to see it "set in" like that. Very rarely do our WeatherWatch forecasts mention "rain setting in" or simply "Rain" for a long period of time. Usually it's patchy or just one short period. However on Friday there were two bands of rain that merged to give Aucklanders pretty much 12 hours of solid rain.

Despite the slips and flooding the rain was a welcome sight for many. Water tanks from Auckland northwards were pretty much running on empty and gardens were also drying out. This rain will give most northern places a significant water boost which will hopefully stay in the ground for a couple of weeks.

Oddly enough the rain bands weren't all that large - just narrow and intense. Up in the Far North blue skies moved in and very little rain fell. It was really from southern Northland to Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula then eventually East Cape.

So the rain has been and gone and in its wake mostly sunny, warm, dry weather. This week will see winds coming from the westerly quarter for many places.

The set up is this: A high in the northern Tasman Sea which will result in stable conditions over the upper North Island (Taupo northwards), meanwhile deep lows will move across the Southern Ocean - meaning the squash zone of air pressure will lie over the South Island and lower North Island.

That means strong nor'westers developing in the east, possibly gale. It also means a boost in temperatures for eastern centres which, in the South Island last week, shivered on highs of just 10 and 11. By Wednesday temperatures should be climbing into the mid to upper 20s. It's a similar story for Hawkes Bay.

Wellington will see windy conditions from the north or north west, nothing too severe and daytime highs in the late teens, maybe early 20s.

Aucklanders can enjoy mild days in the low to mid 20s (around the 23 degree mark) and cloudy periods moving in from the Tasman Sea...a bit of a breather for everyone.

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Philip Duncan

Pictured above: Flooding around Hokianga on Friday evening. Photo / Lawrence Hill