Weekend weather: Strong winds and rain for much of NZ

Hold on to your brolly in Wellington - severe gale winds of up to 120 km/h and rain are expected in the capital today.

A strong northwesterly airflow containing a front is moving up the country, bringing gales to Wellington and some wind and rain to much of the North Island, MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said.

"There are already strong gusts in Wellington and there's heavy rain expected in the Central Plateau this afternoon and Saturday morning," he said.

"There's a complex, messy system bringing changeable weather over the next couple of days."

Winds of up to 96km/h were recorded in Wellington and up to 60km/h were recorded in Auckland overnight. The fastest windspeed recorded by MetService was 130km/h between Queenstown and Gore.

There wasn't a huge amount of rain recorded last night, however there would be heavy rain in the Central Plateau and West Coast of the South Island today, Mr Kerr said.

"The highest amount of rain over night was in Hokitika; 48mm in the last eight hours [until 8.30am]. It will be a reasonably wet weekend with showers expected in much of the North Island."

The strong winds and rain would likely settle down by Monday, Mr Kerr said.

WeatherWatch.co.nz is also predicting heavy rainfall on the West Coast of the South Island today. The rain would ease in the evening, as gusty northwesterly winds swung to the southwest.

Rain would move into the west of the North Island later in the evening and overnight from Auckland southwards, possibly bringing a heavy fall or two, according to WeatherWatch.

The west of the North Island could also have the odd shower this morning and "heavy spurts" of rain later today.

WeatherWatch expected strong northwesterly winds with possible gales in the Wairarapa and coastal areas.

"Strong northwesterlies blow from Southland right up along the east coast of the South Island, and up to Wellington," WeatherWatch reported.

"These will likely be strong especially in the afternoon, while winds may gust to gale force -- especially either end of the South Island -- as well as inland eastern parts of the island."

Hawke's Bay and Gisborne might have gusty northwesterlies from this afternoon but they weren't likely to be strong, WeatherWatch said.

MAIN CENTRES FORECAST:

• Whangarei: Few showers today and late rain. Rain Saturday and Sunday. Highs: Today 19C, Saturday 21C, Sunday 20C.

• Auckland: Few showers today, rain overnight and throughout Saturday and Sunday. Highs: Today 20C, Saturday 20C, Sunday 19C.

• Hamilton: Showery today and early this evening. Fresh northwesterly rain drops off to showers Saturday and Sunday. Highs: Today 18C, Saturday 18C, Sunday 20C.

• Wellington: Severe northwest gales of up to 120km/h. Some rain this afternoon clears this evening. Winds ease and showers drop away Saturday and Sunday. Highs: Today 15C, Saturday 17C, Sunday 18C.

• Christchurch: Odd shower this afternoon and high winds. Cloudy periods and odd shower on Saturday, mainly fine on Sunday. Highs: Today 24C, Saturday 17C, Sunday 19C.

• Dunedin: Rain this morning and strong westerly winds. Few showers and cloudy periods on Saturday and showers on Sunday. Highs: Today 21C, Saturday 14C, Sunday 15C.

Source: MetService