There are some mild spring days ahead this week for the upper part of the North Island.

Longer, warmer days mean plenty of time outdoors in the garden. Mid spring is the perfect planting time – the soil is warm, temperatures aren't too high and there's often good rainfall to encourage good plant growth.

Conditions are optimal for everything from seeds and seedlings through to lawns, evergreen trees and shrubs and potted deciduous plants in full leaf.

The MetService advise that a front will weaken as it moves slowly northwards over central and northern New Zealand on Tuesday and Wednesday, while a ridge of high pressure will move onto the South Island from the Tasman Sea.

"The ridge moves onto the North Island on Thursday and Friday, allowing a series of fronts embedded in a northerly flow to move onto the South Island,' says a MetService spokesperson.

On Tuesday rainfall accumulations are expected to reach warning criteria about the western ranges of Nelson and Buller, and low confidence for the Tararua Range.

"On Friday there is moderate confidence of warnable amounts of rain for the ranges of Westland south of Otira and Fiordland.'