After the intense rain and thunderstorm in the early hours of this morning, it's good to know it will ease up somewhat although the weather forecast for the remainder of the day is for occasional rain, with a chance of it being heavy. Also southeasterlies.

The Metservice has reported that the total rainfall so far today has been 58.4mm and the total rainfall forecast for today is 75.1mm.

It's a three-clothing and a one-windproof layer day with a high of 14 and an overnight low of 9 degrees forecast.

All this rain is a great start to spring just requiring some planning and prep in the vege garden to ensure a bumper crop. Popular spring crops to plant are beans, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, celery, lettuce, peas, potatoes, spinach and spring onions.

This day in NZ history in 1960 was the golden hour for kiwi runners in Rome. New Zealand sport enjoyed one of its greatest days in Rome's Olympic Stadium. Peter Snell won the 800 m and Murray Halberg won the 5000 m.

This day in NZ history in 1972, NZ's rowing eight won gold at the Munich Olympics. In 2008 the well-known sports writer Joseph Romanos chose the victory of the 1972 rowing eight as the best team performance by New Zealanders at an Olympic Games.

This day in NZ history in 1979 Ivan Mauger won his sixth world speedway title.

A quote for today by Nishan Panwar who said "those who joyfully leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything. Worries end when faith begins."

There's plenty on today including the finals of the hp48hour film at Baycourt this evening. It's a great opportunity to see the films made over 48 hours last weekend by local teams who entered the nation-wide competition.

Have a great day!