Wet and dreary: Rain falls over most of the country

Most of the country has woken up to a soggy morning and that rain is set to continue for most of the day.

The July school holidays has been a washout for most with and today's forecast is no better with rain falling on both the North and South Islands.

A rain watch is in place for Westland and Buller on the back of heavy rain at the weekend causing severe flooding to the area and mass evacuations and making it even harder for those involved in cleaning up the devastated area.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said while the amounts expected wouldn't in itself usually warrant a watch - it came on the back of all the rain the area had already received in the past week.

The rain will clear in the lower and western parts of South Island later today, but the rain will continue to fall in parts of the upper South Island such as Nelson and Marlborough and on most of the North Island.

Rain continues to fall on Westport which flooded at the weekend, leaving many homes unrepairable. Photo / George Heard

This is due to a front slowly moving up the country from the South Island reaching the North Island later this afternoon and bringing with it more rain and showers, Makgabutlane said.

"It's a rainy and wet winter day."

But despite the rain, the temperatures are slightly warmer than usual for this time of year with Napier and Hastings the hottest places to be with a high of 19C, while Queenstown and Wanaka are the coldest sitting around 9C.

Snow also fell on Lindis Pass, Crown Range Road and Milford Road overnight and is expected to continue to dust Porters Pass until 3pm today.

The weather is also looking up for the weekend and is expected to be fine and warm on Saturday before the wind starts blowing in on Sunday.