MetService has issued severe thunderstorm watches for parts of both islands on Boxing Day, with the upper North Island facing a risk of heavy downpours and the lower South Island bracing for large hail.<\/p>\n
The forecaster said a cold, unstable airmass was affecting the South Island, with a risk of thunderstorms for Christchurch, Dunedin, Clutha, Canterbury Plains, Canterbury High Country, North Otago, Central Otago and Southland this afternoon and evening.<\/p>\n
Those storms could become severe with hail larger than 20mm in diameter, which MetService said could cause significant damage to crops, orchards, vines, glasshouses and vehicles.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a complex weather trough was expected to move across the upper North Island, bringing a risk of severe thunderstorms with heavy rain to Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, the western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua from 2pm to 8pm.<\/p>\n
Downpours could bring between 25mm and 40mm of rain per hour, the forecaster said, with conditions potentially causing surface or flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas near streams and rivers.<\/p>\n
A separate thunderstorm watch applies to the eastern Bay of Plenty and far north of Gisborne from 7pm to 11pm.<\/p>\n
Heavy rain watches were also in place for Wellington until 3pm and the Tararua Range until 5pm. MetService said there was a moderate chance these could be upgraded to warnings.<\/p>\n
A further heavy rain watch covers the Bay of Plenty east of Whakatane from 7pm Friday until 6am Saturday.<\/p>\n
MetService was due to provide its next update by 2pm for the South Island thunderstorm watch and by 8pm for the North Island conditions.<\/p>\n
Full warnings and watches as of 10am<\/p>\n
Severe Thunderstorm Watch<\/p>\n
Area: Christchurch, Canterbury Plains, Canterbury High Country, North Otago, Central Otago, Dunedin, Clutha, Southland<\/p>\n
Period: 7hrs from 1pm – 8pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A cold unstable air-mass affects parts of the South Island today. For coastal Canterbury from the Banks Peninsula southwards, eastern Otago and Southland there is a moderate risk of thunderstorms. These storms may become Severe this afternoon and evening with hail, larger than 20mm.<\/p>\n
Area: Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua<\/p>\n
Period: 6hrs from 2pm – 8pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A complex trough embedded in a moist unstable air-mass is expected to move east across the upper North Island today. For Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula the western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua there is a moderate risk of thunderstorms with heavy rain associated with the trough this afternoon and evening. There is also a moderate risk of Severe thunderstorms with downpours bringing hourly rainfall amounts of 25 to 40 mm.<\/p>\n
Area: Bay of Plenty, Gisborne<\/p>\n
Period: 4hrs from 7pm – 11pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A complex trough embedded in a moist unstable air-mass is expected to move east across the upper North Island today. For the eastern Bay of Plenty and the far north of Gisborne there is a moderate risk of thunderstorms with heavy rain associated with the trough this evening and at night. There is also a moderate risk of Severe thunderstorms with downpours bringing hourly rainfall amounts of 25 to 40 mm.<\/p>\n
Heavy Rain Watches<\/p>\n
Area: Bay of Plenty east of Whakatane<\/p>\n
Period: 11hrs from 7pm Fri, 26 Dec – 6am Sat, 27 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A period of heavy rain, with localised downpours and thunderstorms possible. Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria, especially about the ranges. Moderate chance of upgrading to a Warning.<\/p>\n
Area: Taranaki Maunga<\/p>\n
Period: 9hrs from 10am – 7pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A period of heavy rain, with thunderstorms possible. Amounts may approach warning criteria. Low chance of upgrading to a Warning.<\/p>\n
Area: Tararua Range<\/p>\n
Period: 7hrs from 10am – 5pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A period of heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria. Moderate chance of upgrading to a Warning.<\/p>\n
Area: Wellington<\/p>\n
Period: 6hrs from 9am – 3pm Fri, 26 Dec<\/p>\n
Forecast: A period of heavy rain, and amounts may approach warning criteria. Rain easing from the south late morning and afternoon. Moderate chance of upgrading to a Warning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MetService has issued severe thunderstorm watches for parts of both islands on Boxing Day, with the upper North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82,48961],"class_list":["post-369249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}