A warm and humid northeast flow spreads across New Zealand during Tuesday and Wednesday, says the MetService.

An embedded frontal system should move eastwards across central and northern New Zealand from Wednesday through to Friday morning, bringing rain and northeast gales to many places.

The heaviest rain is likely to be in the north of both islands.

There is moderate confidence of warning amounts of rain and severe northeast gales for Northland and Auckland during Wednesday and Thursday, then spreading from the Coromandel Peninsula to northern Gisborne and the northern slopes of Tongariro National Park during Thursday and Friday.

A low risk of warning amounts of rain and severe northeast gales covers remaining central parts of the North Island from Waikato to Taranaki, as depicted on the chart. For the South Island, there is moderate confidence of rainfall in Nelson and northern Marlborough reaching warning amounts during Wednesday and Thursday, with a lower risk extending through Buller and Westland.