A low-pressure system which affected the North Island over the weekend will move slowly east of the country today. A Severe Weather Watch for heavy rain is still in place for Northland, eastern Bay of Plenty, also Waikato down to Taranaki and across to Tongariro National Park. Rain is expected to ease from the west during this afternoon and evening as the low moves east, followed by a cooler southwesterly flow.
A weak cold front brings strong southwesterly winds to the far south on Tuesday, and a few showers to most places as it quickly moves north, reaching the North Island Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday will see a fair amount of blue sky across the country. However,there will be a few lingering showers, particularly in eastern and northern areas. Frosts are possible in some South Island areas in the morning and overnight into Thursday, also in Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay during the latter period.
"The weather is expected to progressively deteriorate towards the end of the week with the first of a series of frontal features moving onto the country on Thursday bringing wet, windy weather," said MetService Meteorologist Ciaran Doolin. Western and northern areas will receive rain or showers on Thursday, while southern and eastern places should remain dry. However, few areas will escape the wet weather on Friday with gales also possible around central New Zealand.
For the active weather later this week, you can keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice and @MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com