Aucklanders should be prepared for a wild weekend of rain, severe gales and a drop in the temperature on the way, according to forecasters.
MetService said a cold front is expected to move northwards across the country during Friday and Saturday, bringing showers and very strong westerly winds to many areas.
MetService has issued strong wind watches for parts of the North Island and Canterbury.
A strong wind watch is in place for Auckland including Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula from 6am to midnight on Saturday.
The forecasting agency said westerly winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.
MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon told Newshub winds in Auckland are expected to be about 100km/h and could get up to 110km/h.
Wotherspoon said Auckland will not only see strong winds but also rain.
"We are stuck in this strong westerly quarter flow right up until next week and within that, we've got some embedded fast-moving fronts and they're bringing a decent amount of rain and also some quite strong winds," she said. "We've got northwesterly winds picking up on Saturday morning for Auckland and they tip southwesterly sort of around midday. This is going to be the first strong southwesterly wind event that Auckland's had in a while, since early August.
"It's going to be quite rainy as well and the temperatures are going to be dropping as it hits southwesterly so it's going to be quite unpleasant."
MetService's severe weather outlook showed moderate confidence of west to southwest gales for Northland, Great Barrier Island, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula, and severe southwest gales for Mahia Peninsula and near the coast of Tairāwhiti/Gisborne.
A wind watch is also in place for the Tararua District and Hawke's Bay south of Hastings from 9am on Friday until at least 6am on Saturday, with MetService warning gusts may approach severe gale in exposed places.
For the South Island, the Canterbury High Country and the ranges of Marlborough south of Ward are also in the firing line with a wind watch in place from 6am until at least 9pm on Friday.
The South Island could also see some rain over the weekend with the severe weather outlook showing moderate confidence of rainfall accumulations reaching warning criteria in Westland, especially the ranges.
There is low confidence of heavy rain for central and northern Fiordland and also for Buller on Monday. And some of New Zealand's iconic roads could again be in for a spring dusting of snow. Road snowfall warnings are in place for Desert Rd (SH1), Arthur's Pass (SH73), Porters Pass (SH73), Milford Rd (SH94) and Crown Range Rd.
