KEY POINTS:
Wet and wild weather is set to stay with us today and most of this week. Radio Network weather analyst Philip Duncan said that while winds dropped slightly last night, today's weather would be rough.
"It's going to come back and bite us again."
Duncan said strong, cold southerlies would blow over the entire North Island today, reaching speeds of up to 120km/h from Taupo east.
"It will be cold, windy and very wet. It will be horrible."
Eastern districts should also prepare for heavy rain, especially the Eastern Bay of Plenty and the East Cape.
South-westerlies will buffet Auckland, reaching galeforce by noon.
By tomorrow the storm should be offshore but deepening, exposing the risk of high dangerous seas along the east coast of the North Island with the potential to reach the South Island.
As if that wasn't enough, Duncan said a second storm would form in almost exactly the same place on Tuesday night.
While not quite qualifying as another weather bomb, it is predicted to bring heavy rain to Northland on Tuesday. The second storm is expected to travel down the central North Island, with rain affecting Taranaki and Wellington and bringing severe gales to central areas.
Duncan predicted no sign of relief until next weekend at the earliest.
"We are stuck in this pattern now, we've got another stormy week ahead."
