Subtropical low moves in over upper North Island

A subtropical rainmaker has started to move in over the upper North Island this evening.

MetService has a raft of rain watches and warnings in place for parts of the North Island as the low arrives.

Much of the east coast of the North Island from Tairāwhiti north is under a yellow rain watch tonight lasting until tomorrow morning.

An orange heavy rain warning is in place for Hawke's Bay from 6am tomorrow morning until 6pm on Wednesday night.

"Expect 120 to 160 mm of rain, the biggest accumulation likely south of SH5. Peak rates of 15 to 25 mm/h expected Tuesday morning and afternoon. Please note, that further rain is expected through Thursday and Friday, and this warning may be extended," MetService said.

Rain is starting to fall in Auckland, with the heaviest downpours currently forecast to hit overnight.

Meanwhile, an unplanned power outage is affecting 1010 properties in and around Ngaruawahia, WEL Network said.

A customer service representative told 1News "technicians are investigating, but the cause of the outage and how long it will go for are unknown at this stage".

It's not all bad news however, with NIWA stating the rain will help ease dry soils in the upper North Island and the east coast.

There is also a risk of thunderstorms for the likes of Northland today and tomorrow, then Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and Tairāwhiti tomorrow only.

MetService's Dom Barry said: "As the low moves southeastwards across the Motu, we can expect areas such as Marlborough and Northern Canterbury to encounter some wet weather from Tuesday, with the rain mainly remaining in the eastern Te Ika-a-Māui/North Island.”

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