The damp weather continues to linger in the Bay of Plenty, with more rain and wind set to bring in the start of the weekend.

Metservice is forecasting an area of wet weather will continue to track up the country from the South Island before moving off as we head into Sunday.

Metservice is forecasting rain and wind heading into Saturday night and early Sunday. Photo: File.

During Sunday, the rain clears to the north of New Zealand as a brief ridge of high pressure and more settled weather moves back across the country - bringing welcome improvement for the end of the weekend.

Metservice meteorologist John Law says it's not looking like the best weekend ahead, with the low bringing scattered showers and high winds to the Bay of Plenty.

'Early Saturday will be a drier story, then there'll be rain into the night,” says John. 'By Sunday morning those showers should clear away and the winds are a lot lighter.

'Temperature wise it will be about 20 degrees celsius. But keep an eye out for the wind and cloud increasing as we head through Saturday.”

John says the good news is that skies are set to clear for Sunday, before cloudy spells and occasional showers heading into the start of the new week.

'We are going to find another system pushing in from the northwest which brings in some more cloud. I think the best day looks to be Sunday,” he adds.