Stormy Sunday: Thunderstorms, downpours, gales to lash top of North Island

A sub-tropical storm is set to unleash rain, thunderstorms and gales across the top half of the North Island from tomorrow.

MetService has issued a swathe of weather warnings ahead of the incoming low pressure system packed with moist, humid air from the tropics set to hit the country during the second half of Sunday.

The forecaster is warning it will bring a risk of heavy falls and severe gale northeasterly winds to some regions as well as thunderstorms for the Far North tomorrow night.

A low pressure system in the northern Tasman Sea can be seen swirling away and slowly deepening in the satellite imagery.

A number of Watches for Heavy Rain and Strong Winds are in place for the upper North Island from the 2nd half of Sunday.

Details: https://t.co/Yjbq0jfCz1 pic.twitter.com/IKSR7z0sbm

— MetService (@MetService) May 28, 2022

Severe northeast gales are possible in Northland from 1pm tomorrow and from 8pm in Auckland.

Meanwhile, heavy rain is also on the cards for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, northern Gisborne and western Tasman

Heavy rain is expected to start across the top of the North Island tomorrow from 3pm and begin in other areas further down the country by the early hours of Monday morning.

💧 Moist, humid air from the tropics (🟣) will streak southward on Sunday-Monday...

🌀 Another low is forecast toward the middle of next week.

The end to meteorological autumn & start to winter looks:

🌬️ Windy
🌧️ Wet
🌡️ Warm

Atmospheric moisture in motion 👇 pic.twitter.com/JfsaH068zI

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) May 25, 2022

The weather comes after the lower North Island was battered by 6m-high waves earlier this week.

Local roads in Wellington were closed to clear rocks and debris washed up in the swell.