Planning for a Mother's Day dining in the sun, chardonnay in hand, and a warm breeze in the air? Think again.
New Zealanders should brace themselves for strong wind and heavy rain to blast across the nation on Sunday afternoon after a calm and fairly dry morning, according to WeatherWatch.
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The warmth Kiwis have experienced late in the day over the last week will be replaced by a cold air flow on Sunday evening, which will linger into Monday.
"Generally speaking this isn't a major system but it does have pockets of severe weather with gales, dangerous seas, some areas of heavy rain and then some snow on the mountains and ranges," said WeatherWatch.
"Heaviest rain will be in the west of both islands, but especially the West Coast. Winds will be strongest in coastal wind tunnel areas, like Cook Strait and marine areas around Auckland."
MetService has a Heavy Rain Watch in place for periods throughout Sunday for Mount Taranaki, Northern Marlborough and Nelson, Buller and Westland, and Fiordland.
But not everyone will feel the chill, with Gisborne and other centres in the east forecast to have a mainly dry Mother's Day.
Warm weather for the rest of the country is set to return on Tuesday.
Earlier in the week, WeatherWatch warned there could also be some heavy snow on the horizon due to cold air brewing south of New Zealand which may impact Southland and Otago on Sunday and Monday.
Queenstown's high on Monday is expected to be seven degrees, which would be lower than the city's coldest overnight point on Wednesday.
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