Weather: What to expect this week

Parts of the North Island will finally have a reprieve from the wet weather that persisted over the weekend. Photo / Duncan Brown

Prepare for a mixed bag of fine and showery weather across New Zealand today before a rain-sodden few days.

MetService duty forecaster Arno Dyason said the top half of the North Island would see some showers throughout the day, clearing towards the end of the day.

The bottom of the island would be mainly cloudy with a scattering of showers.

Temperatures would sit in 20s today with Auckland forecast to reach a high of 23C and Wellington 20C.

Meanwhile, in Tauranga rain is expected this morning but that should ease into the afternoon.

The bright spot was Napier where the sun should shine today and the temperature expected to reach a balmy 25C.

In the South Island rain was expected to soak western parts of the island with heavy rain warnings in place for Fiordland and Westland.

MetService warned residents in the area that between 140mm and 200mm of rain could accumulate from midnight Sunday through to 8pm tonight.

On the east coast Christchurch was forecast to have a fine warm day while Dunedin could expect cloudy cooler conditions and rain in the evening.

Yesterday Northland saw the highest levels of rainfall in the North Island, recording 68mm at a MetService station.

In Auckland, 14mm was recorded as rain persisted throughout the day.

MetService meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said the rain had been brought on by a front running along the east of the North Island.

"That has been bringing a fair bit more precipitation than we were expecting. We have been seeing that [yesterday] afternoon."

Mr Doolin said it was really Northland that had accumulated the most substantial rainfall.