Weather: Late winter storm - heavy rain to hit New Zealand including Auckland, Northland

Hunker down - another mid-week storm is starting to unleash a power-packed day of wind and rain across New Zealand.

Gale-force winds ripped through northern regions, with 70km/h winds howling over Auckland's harbour bridge on Tuesday.

It was just the start of the wild weather set to batter northern and western regions today. Heavy rain is expected to sweep over both islands, with storm-weary Northland expected to cop it particularly badly.

MetService says gale-strength winds will rise throughout Wednesday, howling across the north and west of the North Island and the western coastline of the South Island.

Forecaster Paul Ngamanu said winds gusting at 124km/h were recorded in Cape Reinga yesterday afternoon, with gusts of 75km/h recorded in Kaitaia.

In the City of Sails, northeasterly winds of 65km/h were recorded at Auckland Airport, with the gales expected to ramp up last night.

It ushers in 24 hours of rain which is due to hit Northland. A heavy rain watch has been issued for the region until 5pm today.

The latest Severe Weather Outlook can now be found at https://t.co/RneUpvOdMj High Risk areas associated with current Watches extending into Weds morning, with Low to Mod heavy rain risks for other N and W areas Weds, and Low risk in the SW Sat. ^RK pic.twitter.com/owUVKODfZB

— MetService (@MetService) August 17, 2020

MetService says the entire country is in for rain for a time today, with the tropical north expected to experience the most intense falls.

At this stage MetService says there is a low confidence the rainfall would reach warning levels in the Far North and northern parts of Auckland today.

"We'll see those northeast wind strengthen on Tuesday ahead of a front slowly moving over New Zealand from the Tasman Sea, and rising to gales in the north and west of the North Island, and along the Westland and Fiordland coasts," said MetService forecaster Rob Kerr.

"As the front moves off to the east on Wednesday, rain spreads across the whole of New Zealand for a time, with the upper North Island potentially getting some heavy falls."

A heavy rain watch is also in force for ranges in the upper South Island and Westland, spanning 24 hours from Tuesday night.

The week ahead in a nutshell: starts dry ⛅, finishes wet 💧

🌧️ Beneficial for Auckland

⛈️ Thundery for some late-week

📈 Most rain? West Coast-Tasman

📉 Least rain? Canterbury

🌬️ Windy at times too! pic.twitter.com/oAmX59qWfV

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) August 16, 2020

Kerr said the country would be buffeted by northwest winds for the rest of the week, with showers peppering the north and west of the country.

The bright note would be in the east of the North Island where it was expected to be dry and warm by Thursday, and the temperature hitting a warm 20C.