Auckland and Waikato can expect tempestuous weather tonight and MetService has put out a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the regions; heavy rain will continue into Friday.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The rest of the North Island will face strong winds. There's an orange wind warning for Taranaki until early Friday morning.
By Friday afternoon most areas are expected to see drier conditions but Hawke's Bay, Gisborne and the Wairarapa will remain wet, cold and windy.
MetService meteorologist Luis Fernandes explained: "As the low moves away, cold southeast winds push over the east coast and inland, lifting warmer air above it. This is a perfect cloud and rain-making scenario, and we expect the rain to be fairly persistent in the area tomorrow. For this reason, a Heavy Rain Watch has been issued for Hawke's Bay until late Friday afternoon."
However, there is a short respite for the North Island over the weekend with settled weather, before the rain returns on Monday morning.
"As is often the case with clear and dry weather, overnight temperatures can take a dive and that's exactly what we are expecting this weekend," Fernandes says.
In the South, a southeast wind flow will keep Canterbury and Otago cloudy and cold on Friday with temperatures in the single digits.
"That's about 5 to 6 degrees below the average maximum temperatures for this time of the year in those regions," Fernandes says.
Frosts are likely for inland areas on Sunday with current forecasts indicating temperatures dipping below freezing in the Wairarapa and Canterbury.
By Sunday afternoon wet weather will reach Buller, Tasman and Nelson overnight.