Hawke's Bay is expected to miss the full force of the wild weather that's already caused flooding, evacuations and event cancellations in the North of the country, but a severe wind watch is in place for the region.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said gales of up to 100km/h could be felt in exposed places in Hawke's Bay.
"We are expecting the rain to become heavy with possible thunderstorms this evening as the low comes further south and those northeasterlies start rising to gale.
"The northeasterly winds will slowly turn southwest later tonight and as the low starts to move down over central New Zealand tomorrow that rain could stick around and it could be heavy at times."
It is the most significant low since September, with a lot more widespread and persistent rain.