Rain not enough to break drought

It's raining at last. Weatherwatch analyst Richard Green said most of the drought-stricken North Island, and much of the South, got a reasonable soaking overnight and this morning.

It was the most rain the country had seen since the first week of February. However, it was not a "drought breaker".

"Nonetheless, it will make places greener and top-up water tanks," Mr Green said.

"It's looking like coming and going this afternoon and tonight and that will continue tomorrow New Zealand-wide, by the looks of things."

Most of the North Island had received 5-10mm of rain so far, with Kauri near Whangarei got the most rain with 15mm.

Unusually, the driest part of the country was Southland. Gisborne and northern Hawkes Bay also didn't get any rain.

The heaviest showers brought by this system would in the upper South Island late tonight, while the central North Island would continue to get moderate falls.

The upper North Island would likely have further intermittent rain

The low currently over the country should remain here until Tuesday, when an anti-cyclone was forecast to arrive and bring back the dry weather.

This should stay until Friday, when there could be more rain.

Mr Green said the North Island needed 70 - 100mm of rain in order to break the drought.

"But we don't want that all at once because the ground is so hard it would run off and create flooding. Ideally, we would like close to 100mm of rain over two to three weeks."