KEY POINTS:
Waitangi Day celebrations in the Far North tomorrow are set to be marred by thunderstorms, heavy rain and possible flooding.
The MetService today issued a severe weather watch for Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula.
Forecaster Allister Gorman said rain should develop in Northland this afternoon, with the heaviest falls coming in pulses associated with thunderstorms.
Rainfall could reach more than 25mm per hour in localised spots, causing surface flooding and hazardous driving conditions, he said.
In the Coromandel heavy downpours associated with thunderstorms were expected to set in tomorrow morning.
The weather was due to a moist easterly flow covering the top half of the north Island with a front moving north, Mr Gorman said.
The rain was expected to continue until Wednesday.
- NZPA
