A broad area of low pressure residing over the Tasman Sea is expected to bring outbreaks of rain to most of the country this weekend, including Tauranga.

The MetService is predicting occasional showers for the city tomorrow, with steady rain to develop on Sunday.

Further showers are expected for Monday and Tuesday too.

Media and communications meteorologist Dan Corbett says the approaching low will have a lot of available moisture from the sub-tropics, which could make it 'quite wet” towards the end of the weekend.

'The leading edge of this wet weather will spread into the West Coast of the South Island on Saturday night and across the rest of New Zealand during Sunday.

'There could be some heavy bursts of rain, especially in northern and western areas from Nelson to Northland.”

The MetService has already issued a severe weather warning for Nelson and a watch for many districts further north as well as eastern parts of the South Island.

Dan says by Monday the main band of persistent rain will be located along the east coast of the South Island.

He says the rain will slowly turn to showers as the area of low pressure moves across New Zealand during the middle of next week, followed by a cooler southerly flow.