New front brings heavy rain and gales

Hold on to your hair - there's some wild wind on the way for parts of the South Island, Wairarapa and Wellington. Photo / Thinkstock

Another front carrying downpours and gales is set to cross the country, forecasters warn.

Metservice said the active front should hit the South Island this morning before travelling north in the afternoon.

It would bring 200 to 300mm of rain to Fiordland and 100 to 250mm in Westland by tomorrow morning, with rainfall rates reaching 25 to 40mm per hour, Metservice said.

"This is a substantial amount of rain over a relatively short period and therefore rivers and streams will rise rapidly and surface flooding and slips are likely."

The system was expected to bring gale force winds to Marlborough, Wellington and Wairarapa from this afternoon until midday tomorrow, Metservice said.

It said wind gusts of 120km/hr were expected to hit exposed areas of inland Canterbury today, while westerly gales could hit Hawke's Bay tomorrow morning.

The front is the latest in a series of severe weather systems to strike New Zealand this summer.

Golden Bay was hit by widespread flooding and rainfall records were broken across the country in December.

Storms and strong winds sent many holidaymakers home from their campsites early in January.