Rain around the country is set to ease this morning, but more bad weather is forecast for the weekend.
NIWA principal scientist Chris Brandolino told Breakfast the weather should clear by 9am before worsening later today and into tomorrow.
"By 6am tomorrow morning, the low is going to move right across Taranaki across the central part of the country. That'll bring more showers, thundery showers, even heavier downpours and also some showers for the upper South Island.
"But it's the wind we have to be mindful of for tomorrow, so today's a bit of a lull."
He said Waikato and Auckland should expect large gusts from tomorrow lunchtime till about midnight.
"Those wind gusts could approach 100km/h so there could be some fairly widespread impacts, especially with the wet ground."
"Tomorrow, be very mindful, if you tend to lose power or get a little wind damage when the wind gets strong and gusty, tomorrow might be a day with heightened awareness."
He said people should expect trees to come down and for there to be power outages.
"Either way you slice it, it will be a very windy day tomorrow across much of the North Island."
Next week
Brandolino said strong winds can also be expected for much of the country next week.
He said Monday and Tuesday will be the worst, with the weather easing in the second half of the week.
"Late Monday into early Tuesday is another opportunity for some really strong wind gusts across the upper half of the North Island."
While it is set to clear, more wild weather could be on the way next weekend, setting in on Friday.
"So it's a very active weather pattern over the next week or so, we're going to see a lot of wind over the next probably several days."
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