Severe weather warning for region

Northland is in the firing line of a deep low weather system that's expected to bring winds of up to 150km/h and heavy rain that could dump up to 100mm in just 12 hours.

Northlanders are being warned to prepare for the possibility of severe gales and heavy rain across the region from later today and into tomorrow that could cause damage to property and bring down trees.

The MetService has issued a severe weather watch for Northland with a deep low expected to approach the Far North during today, then move slowly across Northland during tomorrow. A frontal system associated with the low should bring a period of heavy rain as it crosses northern New Zealand, while easterly winds will likely rise to gales in exposed places for a time south of the low centre.

Rain is expected to become heavy this evening, then ease from tomorrow morning.

It is possible that rainfall accumulations may approach warning criteria during this time. In addition, northeast winds may rise to severe gales for a time early tomorrow morning.

"This low looks likely to bring ... both severe gales and heavy rain, from about Saturday evening. Northlanders should keep up-to-date with their local forecasts at metservice.com or the warnings at www.metservice.com/warnings/home, since Northland is the first in the firing line," MetService forecaster Georgina Griffiths said.

She said the weather should take a nasty turn from around 6pm tonight and up to 100mm could fall on parts of the region between then and 6am tomorrow, while winds could gust from 80km/h to up to 150km/h. Hilly, eastern areas, such as around Puhipuhi, were also likely to see significant rainfall. "There's a real possibility of very heavy rainfall around Whangarei, with Whangarei Heads particularly in line to get some pretty foul weather."