What is the weather doing this weekend?

Beachgoers will have to wait a little longer for warm weather to heat up the country.

Eastern parts of New Zealand will most likely have a dry weekend, but beachgoers will have to wait a little longer for warm weather to heat up the country.

A strong northwest flow covers much of New Zealand with some areas under a severe weather warning this evening.

Metservice meteorologist Lisa Murray said temperatures this weekend won't be "record-breaking" and some parts of the country may experience bursts of rain and strong winds.

Residents in Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Canterbury, Otago and Southland may experience northwest gales later this evening.

Heavy rain is also expected in the west part of the South Island.

Most of the North Island is expected to be cloudy this weekend with both Auckland and Wellington reaching a high of 16C.

Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and the Wairarapa will start the day with high cloud which will burn off leaving a fine day.

Eastern parts of the South Island will be fine except for Dunedin which will come fine in the afternoon.

Canterbury and Marlborough could also see a few showers on Saturday with a brief southerly.

Metservice meteorologist Stephen Glassey said many eastern places were tracking well below their average rainfall for the month.

This was "due to the high frequency of westerlies over New Zealand in the last two weeks.

"Christchurch averages about 50mm of rain for October and so far they have only received 0.4mm. The eastern North Island has also been dry with less than 5mm recorded in Gisborne and Napier," he said

The past 24 hours saw Tauranga and Alexandra boast the hottest temperature in New Zealand, reaching 20.8C.

The coldest place was Waiouru as temperatures dropped to a cool 1.7C.

Stewart Island had the strongest gust of wind reaching to 150km/h.

Forecast for tomorrow

• Auckland: Mostly cloudy. Westerlies. High 17C.

• Tauranga: Mainly fine, morning and evening cloud. High 18C.

• Hamilton: Mostly cloudy. Westerlies. High 17C.

• Wellington: Afternoon showers. Strong northwest turns southerly. High 16C.

• Christchurch: Cloudy. Brief showers. High 19C.

• Dunedin: Cloudy, rain, some heavy falls. High 13C.

Forecast for Sunday

• Auckland: Cloudy, odd showers. High 18C.

• Tauranga: Cloudy periods. High 19C.

• Hamilton: Cloudy periods with few showers. High 18C.

• Wellington: Cloudy, rain in north clearing. High 17C.

• Christchurch: High cloud, brief showers. High 21C.

• Dunedin: Morning, rain showers. High 16C.