MetService meteorologist John Law said Cyclone Hola was moving in from the north and was likely to shift across the north of the country.
He said it would not be a tropical cyclone any more and was a category 2 as of this morning.
Law said it would be an "unsettled" Monday in Rotorua, with stronger winds and wet weather.
"Compared to this lovely weather over the weekend, it's a big change."
However, he said it would be a fairly fast moving feature and was looking to pull away on Tuesday, back to a southwesterly wind and into better weather.
He said the rest of the week was forecast to be much more settled.
From 1pm tomorrowto 12am Tuesday Taupo is forecast to have gale southeasterlies, which may rise to severe gale strength in exposed places, then turning southerly tomorrow evening with winds gradually easing.
Despite the weather warnings, locals on the street were not too worried.
Rotorua's Gary Parker said the only thing he had done in preparation for the bad weather was moving the outdoor chairs inside.
He said he had found that, especially in Rotorua, most of the bad weather events actually passed or went around the city - "we've been lucky in Rotorua".
Local Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea said it "is what it is" and you simply lived and worked through weather events.
"The thing with these sorts of things is when there's a lot of talk around it there's not a lot that comes of it, and it's when we don't have all that advice around it that it hits us unexpectedly.
"I think it's well for MetService to tell of the arrival of the storm because it helps people to get their minds around it."
Tauranga's Sam Darragh said she was not doing any particular preparation for the storm and it had not been too much of a worry to her.
