Wellington spared the worst of a wet and windy week of weather ahead

Parts of the North and South Island are in for heavy rain and possible flooding this week. Photo / 123rf

Although usually famed for its wet and windy climate, the capital will be spared the worst of the country's horror week of weather.

But Wellington is still in store for some wet and windy weather: after a cloudy tomorrow a strong southerly change is expected about central New Zealand on Wednesday.

MetService Meteorologist Tui McInnes said the change could bring strong winds and rain to the capital.

"As we go into Wednesday, that's when the rain starts and it could be quite persistent depending on how quickly the fronts move across," he said.

"The winds turn southerly and they could get quite strong for a while as this low moves across – so wet and windy together, unfortunately."

"That's the recipe for most of the week, it could ease up again but we have another front across the country towards the end of the week, there could be another southerly that comes in with that."

McInnes said Wellington's position would shield it from the worst of the rainfall.

"Luckily our geography is quite sparing for Wellington, so while it will be wet with periods of rain, we're less in the firing line of the really heavy persistent rain," he said.

"It's a decent amount of rain for Wellington … but not looking as significant as other parts of the country."

Heavy rain and possible flooding has been forecast for parts of the North and South Islands over the week.

Forecaster WeatherWatch.co.nz has also issued a warning for inland parts of the North Island such as South Waikato, Taranaki and inland Bay of Plenty. And Nelson could get a month of rain in just seven days.

The heavy rain is due to a low forming across the Tasman Sea tomorrow falling apart over Wednesday and Thursday as it crosses NZ, according to Weather Watch.

Heavy rain forecast for central New Zealand later this week could result in flooding in parts of both the North and South Islands. Photo / Weatherwatch.co.nz

People in areas from the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and down to the upper South Island are much more likely to need to get their umbrellas out from tomorrow night to Thursday morning.

The places sheltered from the heavy dumps include Northland, Gisborne, Southland, Otago and southern parts of Canterbury.

Rain relief may not come for the region perhaps most need of it - Auckland could instead be in for heavy wind and even gales from the north and west which could result in some power cuts from falling trees.