Heavy rain is on its way for Central Otago tomorrow, bringing some light relief to parched soils.

Although there are no watches or warnings in place for the district, heavy rain was expected on Thursday, MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said.

He said the last time Alexandra recorded anything more than about 5mm in one day was on March 4, which saw 14.2mm.

Over all of March, Alexandra got 30.4mm, which was under its average of 37.4mm, but notably, both January and February got less than half the average rainfall for the month.

He said while more was in store over the next couple of days, it was the West Coast that was on high alert.

“Most of the rainfall will be happening on the other side of the ranges to you,” Alwyn said.

An orange warning is in place for the Westland District, south of Hokitika, where 600mm to 800mm of rain is expected to accumulate about the ranges, and 200 to 300 about the coast.

There will be peak rates of 25 to 35 mm/h about the ranges until Wednesday evening, then again from mid-Thursday morning onwards.

MetService has graded it a significant heavy rain event, with the potential to be upgraded to a red warning.

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