Tue, 27 July 2004
More Rain for Bay of Plenty
Rain returned to the Bay of Plenty on Tuesday. A passing front looked likely to deliver 15 to 20 mm of rain to the
plains and 30 to 40mm to the eastern ranges. This rain is forecast to ease off for a while, but then some heavier rain
is forecast to cross the Bay of Plenty later in the week. "A new low pressure system has now formed in the Tasman Sea",
commented MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt. "This system brought some rain to the Brisbane area and is now
heading our way. It should cross central parts of New Zealand on Wednesday night and Thursday morning and drop its
heaviest rain over Nelson, Buller and North Taranaki."
MetService meteorologists are calculating that rain in the Bay of Plenty associated with this new low pressure system
may add up to 25 to 50mm over the plains and 60 to 90mm in the surrounding hills. This amount may need to be updated if
the low behaves abnormally. This low is coming from a different direction than the one which brought the floods in
mid-July and is so far behaving normally.
On Thursday the soggy soil and near-saturated waterways around Whakatane will be put to the biggest test yet since the
floods ten days ago. After that, the MetService forecast is for a dry weekend for the Bay.
ENDS