Rain deluge brings down slips

A slip on the Matata Straights.

State Highway 2 in the Eastern Bay of Plenty is down to one lane this morning as contractors work to clear a large slip.

A SunLive reader snapped a photo of a slip on the Matata straights during her morning commute from Whakatane to Tauranga.

She says the highway is down to one lane and traffic is being controlled with stop/go signs.

Yesterday, a severe thunderstorm watch was in place for the Bay of Plenty with scattered heavy rain forecast for the evening.

The watch has since been lifted and the MetService is forecasting a fine day with light winds in the Bay.

In a statement released on the last day of November, the MetService says what stands out is the very dry nature of November 2017 for many areas of New Zealand.

This has been the second driest November in Auckland since 1962 and in Wellington since 1928.

'Christchurch Airport has had the driest November on record since 1943, with just 1.4mm recorded this month,” says MetService meteorologist Andy Best.

'Oamaru has also seen the driest conditions since 1941, with just 6.2mm recorded there so far this month.”

With a ridge of High pressure continuing to dominate our weather pattern into the start of next week, warm temperatures are set to remain for much Aotearoa.

Although a front is set to clip the far south of the country on Saturday, northwest winds ahead of this front are expected to warm temperatures even more over the Canterbury, Otago and Southland regions this weekend.

MetService is forecasting maximum temperatures well above the average for the south, with Christchurch expecting 30C on Saturday.

This heat is expected to continue for a few days, with hot temperatures continuing into the first week of summer.

Light winds and coastal sea breezes around the county combined with instability and humid conditions over many places are ideal recipes for the development of convection and consequently thunderstorms.

Many inland parts of the North Island will be affect by thunderstorms today as will parts of the South Island.

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