A soggy weekend is expected to grip the Bay of Plenty as a low pressure system moves over the country.

The MetService is predicting showers for today and rain for tomorrow and Sunday.

MetService meteorologist Peter Little says the slow-moving high that has dominated the weather for the last several days is weakening and slowly retreating eastwards.

'The culprit is a mature low over the Tasman Sea, which brought strong winds, large waves and heavy rain to parts of the New South Wales coast this week.” Though the high remains over the South Island until early next week, the weather deteriorates over northern New Zealand as a band of rain spreads slowly southwards.

'During today and tomorrow, expect strong to gale easterly winds and rain to sweep southwards across Northland and Auckland.

'The heaviest falls are likely about eastern parts of Northland. On Sunday, the rain reaches the central North Island, but eases to showers in Northland.” The remainder of the country's weather continues to be influenced by the slowly departing high.

'The lower North Island and much of the South Island will have cloudier skies than the past few days, and patchy drizzle is expected to affect eastern places, mainly morning and night.”

The rain is expected to continue throughout the week right until next Sunday.