(file picture) Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Severe weather watches have been issued for heavy rain and gales forecast to affect northern parts of the country from Wednesday.
MetService said the upper North Island could see rain reach warning levels and severe northeasterly gales on Wednesday and Thursday.
Large northeast swells could also bring hazardous conditions to exposed coasts.
Auckland, including Great Barrier Island, and Northland have a heavy rain watch in place, with the latter also having a strong wind watch.
MetService said the subtropical low was forecast to move slowly southwards to lie west of the North Island on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
In addition to the upper North Island, Bay of Plenty, northwest Tasman, Westland south of Otira, and Fiordland could see heavy rainfall later this week.
It was likely additional watches and/or warnings would be issued in the coming days, MetService said.