Rain, swells and strong winds are on the cards as the remnants of Cyclone Lola merges with a low and heads our way early next week.
MetService said the "large complex low pressure system" will move in over northern New Zealand on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
"During Sunday, a low pressure system combines with the remnants of Cyclone Lola to form a large complex low over the north Tasman Sea," MetService said in its forecast today.
"This large complex low pressure system then moves slowly southeast to northern New Zealand on Monday. On Tuesday the centre of the low lies just to the east of the north of the North Island. Note, rain and strong east or northeast winds extend over a broad area to the south of the complex low.
"On Sunday and Monday, for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato north of Hamilton, there is moderate confidence for both warning amounts of heavy rain and severe gale easterly winds."
The low will also affect the East Coast.
"On Monday and Tuesday, for Gisborne/Tairawhiti north of about Tolaga Bay, there is moderate confidence for warning amounts of heavy rain, but low confidence for severe gale northeast winds.
"While for Gisborne/Tairawhiti south of Tolaga Bay, Hawke's Bay north of Napier, Bay of Plenty and Waikato south of Hamilton, there is low confidence for warning amounts of heavy rain; and for Bay of Plenty and Waikato south of Hamilton, there is also low confidence for severe gale northeast winds."
Large swells will also hit coastlines up and down the country as illustrated in a MetService post on X.
Snow to sea level
It comes as there are a raft of weather watches and warnings further south, with snow possibly falling to sea level in some areas.
Southland, Clutha, Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes and Fiordland are all under heavy snow watches from this evening until tomorrow morning.
"Snow is expected to lower to near sea level. Heavy snowfall is possible above 300 metres, where amounts may approach warning criteria," MetService said.
Strong winds lashing parts of the South Island today have seen a truck roll on State Highway 1 in Canterbury.
On Omihi Rd near Mt Cass Road, a truck was blown over shortly after 10.40am, blocking both north and southbound lanes for around two hours. Congestion has since eased.
Nobody was injured in the crash, police said.
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