A southwesterly airflow lies over the country on Tuesday, northwesterly winds pick up over the South Island overnight then changing strong southwest about the lower South Island towards dawn on Wednesday.

Northland through to the Waikato, cloudy areas with the odd light shower, southwesterly winds. Tauranga sees sunny spells with west to southwest breezes. Taranaki through to Wellington sees morning cloud and a few showers for some then sunny areas develop in the afternoon.

Some sun on the east coast of the North Island then cloud and a few showers develop late morning as southerlies freshen.

Sunny spells on the West Coast of the South Island, overnight rain moves in especially about South Westland with heavy falls. Southwesterlies become strong about coastal Fiordland towards dawn on Wednesday.

Morning showers for Canterbury and Marlborough then sunny spells develop from afternoon. Nelson is mainly dry with some sun. Mainly sunny about Otago, Southland sees some cloud.

Overnight strong southwesterlies develop about Southland and Otago with winds gusting to gale about the coast.

– Aaron Wilkinson, WeatherWatch.co.nz