Tauranga residents are being warned to prepare for a cloudy and wet weekend as a high sitting on the east of New Zealand drifts away from the country.

MetService media and communications meteorologist Dan Corbett says a bit of moisture will creep into the far south with some early morning cloud in eastern parts of the North Island with a few spots of rain in the far north.

'The main high will slowly pack its bags and drift off to the east with more cloud and rain coming in on Friday and Saturday in the South Island.

'By Monday, all of us will go 'where are our rain coats” as the rain moves up the North Island.”

Tauranga's daily temperature will remain in the mid-20s with today's high expected to be 24 degrees.

Saturday is forecast to be cloudy before rain arrives on Sunday.

The nights are expected to be restless with the overnight lows predicted to be around 17 and 19 degrees with a 20 degree overnight low expected for Sunday.