There are more heavy rain warnings in place as New Zealand prepares for a wet week ahead.
MetService forecast there'll be either rain or showers for the West Coast of the South Island on Wednesday ahead of an active front on Thursday.
MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said on Wednesday that the first cold front may trigger a lot of thunderstorms.
"As we get into this second cold front and the flow turns a bit more southwest, that's when we'll start to see a lot of those heavy rain signals switching off," he said.
Heavy rain and northerly winds will precede the front, with heavy rain watches and warnings now in force for parts of the South Island and Mt Taranaki.
Westland currently has a heavy rain warning lasting 35 hours from noon on Wednesday to 11pm on Thursday. About 250mm to 330mm of rain is expected to accumulate in the ranges, with 100mm to 150mm elsewhere. Peak rates of 30mm/h to 40mm/h are forecast for Wednesday night and early on Thursday.
Many of the South Island's heavy rain warnings last to the end of Thursday, but Buller should currently expect the warning to last until 2am on Friday.
WeatherWatch said this heavy rain will spill over into Canterbury and the Otago rivers and lakes.
With Wednesday night's heavy rain, they said that there may also be overnight thunderstorms for some areas in the West Coast.
The airflow changes to the southwest over New Zealand on Friday, which will bring cooler temperatures and rain for western regions. Eastern regions have some morning rain which will ease to showers in the afternoon and evening.
