Wet, windy and humid: Tropic-fuelled stormy weather set to hit upper north

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2026, 1:13pm

The top of the North Island is set to be hit by stormy conditions tomorrow as a low-pressure system approaches from the Tasman Sea.

MetService meteorologist Paris Marshall said the low is forecast to approach the North Island tonight and into Wednesday morning.

“The low pressure has come from the tropics, so it’s bringing down some quite warm, moist air, which is resulting in quite wet weather or rain,” Marshall told the Herald.

“As that comes down, it deepens … When a low deepens quite fast, it usually gets very strong winds at the centre, and that’s where we’re seeing very strong northeasterly winds.

“This is going to bring periods of rain, heavy under the warnings that we have in place, along with stronger than normal northerly winds and potential thunderstorms.”

A heavy rain watch is in place from tomorrow morning in eastern Northland and Auckland, while Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty will be under an orange heavy rain warning.

Marshall said Wednesday was looking to be “quite humid”, with warmer minimum temperatures.

“For example, in Whakatāne, their minimum temperatures will be 13C, which is quite different as they’ve been getting frost recently, which you need to have around three degrees air temperature to even start seeing frost. So yeah, it’s quite a difference.”

The South Island will also be hit by its “own feature”, with a low moving from the southwest.

“This is bringing showers of rain falling as snow above 1800m in the mountain areas.

“That low pressure and front are moving towards one another’s path as that low is moving southeast and that front is moving northeast.

“So they are pretty much pushing the air between them as they get closer, and this is resulting in quite strong winds around the Cook Strait.”

A strong wind watch is in place for either side of the Cook Strait in Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds, with southerly winds approaching severe gale in exposed places.