Warm, muggy start for many, but unsettled weather expected - MetService

Unsettled weather is expected across much of the country this week. Photo / Duncan Brown.

Much of the north and east of the country has woken to a warm, muggy Sunday.

But change is on the way.

Temperatures are were in the early 20s by 8am for upper North Island cities, and were expected to rise to between the mid 20s to early 30s.

Napier is expecting a boiling 32C, and Whangarei 30C. In Auckland a high of 26C is forecast.

It will also be hot in the upper South Island, with 28C expected in Blenheim and Christchurch.

However, it will be muggy - showers or rain are forecast in the north and east of the North Island.

Multiple severe weather warnings and watches were issued yesterday as a cold front looks set to put a dampener on summer.

The MetService said rain and wind would be common today as the front moves up New Zealand.

It has issued heavy rain warnings for Fiordland, the Tararua Ranges and Mount Taranaki, plus a severe wind warning for inland Canterbury.

Late last night a strong wind warning was also issued for Wellington.

Severe weather watches all also in place for Waitomo, Taumarunui, Taihape, Hawke's Bay, Tararua, Wairarapa, Taranaki, Whanganui, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Buller, Westland, Fiordland, Christchurch, the Canterbury Plains, central Otago, the Southern Lakes, Southland and Stewart Island.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said the front was bringing north-westerly winds so temperatures wouldn't be low - and Napier and Hastings were forecast to hit 30C today.

"We expect the front to move over the North Island on Sunday and bring a period of rain for areas, mainly in the west of the North Island. It'll probably be more cloudy with a few scattered showers for those eastern areas."

The weather was expected to settle down for most places by midnight Sunday and Monday was expected to be mostly fine, with a few isolated showers in the west of the North Island and possibly a few patchy showers in the South Island's west.

Tuesday would see cloudy periods in the west of the North Island but fine in the east, and the South Island would continue to get rain over its west coast.

But then it may be time to batten down the hatches again.

On Wednesday, a front similar to this weekend's was expected to make itself known, with more unsettled weather to follow.