The first week of the school holidays is set to be hit by strong winds and heavy rain with northern New Zealand first to feel the impact.
MetService is keeping an eye on an area of "active development" in the Tasman Sea. This develops and deepens on Sunday before tracking its way towards Aotearoa early Tuesday.
"On Tuesday, a low is expected to approach from the north Tasman Sea, and it is likely to move southeast across the North Island on Wednesday. This active system is accompanied by strong, moist northeasterlies, bringing rain and strong winds to many places," MetService warns.
"From Tuesday to Wednesday there is moderate confidence that rainfall accumulations will meet warning criteria from Northland to Waikato, and across to East Cape.
"Also on Tuesday and Wednesday, northeast winds could rise to gale, and there is low confidence of severe gales from Northland to Gisborne, as indicated on the chart."
Late on Wednesday and on Thursday, MetService says a ridge of high pressure should bring more settled weather - but on Friday another front is expected to bring rain to the west coast of the South Island.
"There is low confidence of significant heavy rain over Fiordland and southern Westland."
If you do manage to make it to the beach before the rain hits, you should make the most of it.
"If you've been considering a trip to the beach then we have good news. The water is still warm!" NIWA says.
"At this time of year our days are rapidly getting shorter but the warmth built up over summer in the sea takes longer to cool down than the land. In fact, sea temperatures during April are often warmer than in December!"
