Lower North Island gets ‘last kiss’ before Gabrielle moves away

As the weather clears for those hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, others still have weather watches in place.

The northeast section of the South Island and the lower North Island are targets for wet weather, receiving “the last kiss as Gabrielle moves away”, Merservice forcaster Aidan Pyselman said.

Wairarapa south of Masterton, and the eastern hills of Wellington have a heavy rain warning until 11am Thursday copping the last of the main rain. Metservice predicts 60 to 90 mm of rain, with the largest amounts likely in the south.

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Wellington, except the eastern hill, has a heavy rain watch until 11am with rainfall amounts possibly approaching warning criteria as the front flicks around and moves over the lower North Island.

Further south, in eastern Marlborough south of Ward including the Kaikōura Coast and Canterbury north of Waiau, a heavy rain warning is predicted until 10am with 70 to 100 mm of rain expected mainly about the ranges.

The main centre of the cyclone continues to move east today before a secondary low forms up near the Chathams, Pyselman said.

”But generally the trend is one of improvement.”

Meanwhile, the temperatures forecast are cooler than average, he said.

A southerly over southern and southeastern parts of the North Island brings “relatively cool” temperatures, in the mid to high teens, which was a few degrees lower than average, including Masterton having a high of just 17 while it would usually be about 24 this time of year, he said.