A southerly change brought an impressive cloudburst to Tawa, Johnsonville and parts of Karori yesterday afternoon. Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. the weather change dropped 24mm of rain in Tawa during a sudden downpour. The event seems to have been more sustained at Tawa, with slightly lower rainfall at Johnsonville and 11mm in Wellington.
Summertime debris rapidly collected in kerbside gutters, and some storm drains became temporarily blocked. The temperature plunged 9° C in two hours, settling at just under 16° C at 4 p.m.
Around the Wellington region, State Highways 1 and 2 were blocked by vehicle accidents, and The Terrace motorway tunnel was closed due to a nearby accident. Tailbacks caused delays which affected rush-hour commuters later in the day.
By mid-afternoon, the downpour had doubled the month’s rainfall to 51mm. Total rainfall for Wednesday was 32mm bringing January’s total to date to 58mm.
The rainfall has dropped the fire danger from High to Low in most of the Wellington region, though small areas of high risk remain.