Rain is about to spread down across the North Island with pockets of heavy falls and gales.

The low is unlikely to bring much rain into the South Island although some drizzle or patchy showers may spread down the eastern side to Otago for a brief time.

A cooler southerly on Thursday will move into Southland while this weekend high pressure briefly moves in to northern areas – ahead of more windy westerlies coming back in again next week.