NZ Weather Forum

I recieved this pic of Noaa 17 this morning. Thought I would post it as shows the effects of the North Island ranges and lifting associated with this circulation. Now raining pretty heavily in the Hawkes Bay.

Impressive. Shows how the central and eastern NI mountains, while they do act as a barrier to precipitation crossing over to the west and north in southerlies and southeasterlies, (being lower) they're not as effective as the Southern Alps in that regard. So with major troughs and lows, rain can still cross over to places like Taupo and Rotorua, though it looks like Waikato northwards is definitely more.

most of that cloud mass over the central NI was upper level, fueled by a jet stream,i.e it was above the height of the mountains,i would have thought