As we reported on Saturday heavy rain is expected to fall across northern and western parts of the country midway through this week as a new front comes in from the Tasman.

While the low itself isn’t sub-tropical it will be pulling down sub-tropical air – which will help ignite the rain bands and perhaps cause the odd thunderstorm.  It also means temperatures will be up, especially overnight around the middle of the week.

WeatherWatch.co.nz believes all northern regions, such as Bay of Plenty, East Cape, Coromandel Peninsula, Auckland and Northland, as well as all western regions, are in the firing line of the heavy rain, with heaviest falls expected on the West Coast and Bay of Plenty, however all areas mentioned above may be issued rain warnings.

Due to the shape of the country and incoming front it will be the West Coast that first gets the rain, most likely on Tuesday, with central areas affected on Wednesday and northern NZ later on Wednesday and into Thursday.

The strong high, currently pushing into the North Island, will also be responsible for slowing this front down – acting as a brick wall to the east of the country and stalling, or slowing down, the front over New Zealand as it comes in from the west.

The government forecaster has also indicated numerous rain warnings will be likely for northern, central and western New Zealand with a low possibility of wind warnings for central New Zealand too.

WeatherWatch.co.nz will closely monitor conditions and bring you updates as new information comes in.