It will pay to keep one eye on the sky today as the MetService has issued a severe weather watch for the Bay of Plenty.

Across the region, particularly in the eastern ranges of the Bay, there's a possibility of between 50-70mm of rain fall during the morning, as well as possible thunderstorms.

Overnight a front over the South Island has been moving north over central New Zealand as complex trough also moves eastwards across the country.

This weather system is expected to bring rain with heavy falls to central and northern parts of New Zealand.

The MetService is advising people to stay up to date with forecasts in case this watch is upgraded to a warning.

Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com

You can also follow updates on MetService TV, on Facebook, @metservice and @MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com