A tropical cyclone will help bring much needed rain to Northland tomorrow, but not enough to relieve drought conditions there.
NIWA is forecasting Tropical Cyclone Gretel to brush the north-east of the North Island with rainfall and strong winds.
Some much needed rain is one of the biggest expected impacts from #CycloneGretel for parts of the upper North Island.
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) March 15, 2020
Here we look at the forecast rain & compare it to where the most abnormally dry soils are.
(Certainly water tanks will benefit as well!) pic.twitter.com/F0nAVvSqth
Though TC Gretel will track well north of NZ, gales about it's center will bring heavy swell in the east from Northland to Coromadel for a time tomorrow. Watch out for potentially hazardous driving conditions on coastal roads especially in conjunction with high winds. ^AC pic.twitter.com/bthYxzv5ae
— MetService (@MetService) March 16, 2020
But meteorologist Ben Noll said it would have little impact, producing about 5 to 10 millimetres of rain, and none of that will reach other parts of the North Island.
The government last week declared a drought in the entire North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands.
"Unfortunately, drought takes a long time to be alleviated, so we need several rain events to do that at this point."
Noll said Gretel was "a very close call to something that could have been beneficial, but that rainfall is expected to be mostly offshore tomorrow".
With #CycloneGretel passing offshore, there will be some swell for anyone who wants to grab their board and hit the surf
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) March 16, 2020
A southeasterly wind on Tuesday means that north facing beaches will have the best surf conditions pic.twitter.com/gSNosFmb4Z
