The long weekend is expected to start with unsettled and wet weather in many parts of New Zealand, MetService forecasters said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, wet weather is forecast for the weekend in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Waikato, with heavy rain affecting other regions.

MetService meteorologist John Lowe said it would be a “completely different story to the weather we saw last weekend” with a “messy” picture across the country on Saturday.

Heavy rain was expected to move north up the South Island throughout the day and Thursday. An orange warning for heavy rain has been issued for much of Fiordland and the west coast. Warnings have also been issued for the Tasman and Nelson regions.

“Ahead of the heavy rain, north-westerly winds will increase, particularly in the Canterbury highlands and around Cook Strait where a strong wind watch has been issued,” MetService said.

Strong wind warnings were issued for Wellington, Wairarapa, Marlborough Sounds and Canterbury High Country on Thursday.

“With more unsettled weather ahead, it looks like it will be a turbulent start to the long weekend in many parts of New Zealand.”

Dirty start to the long weekend – MetService

According to the MetService severe weather forecast, heavy rain or showers are likely to affect many areas on Saturday, with a large area of ​​low pressure expected to cover the South Island while the front moves east across the North Island.

The forecaster said he has “high confidence” that northern Marlborough, Tasman, Buller, Gray and northern Westland will remain under rainfall warning criteria.

Meanwhile, moderate confidence extended to warning levels of rain in the eastern Bay of Plenty, southern Marlborough and southern Westland.

There was also a moderate risk of heavy rainfall across the eastern South Island, from Canterbury to north and east Otago, including Dunedin.

There was “low confidence” in warning level rain from Waitomo to Wellington, as well as south Otago, Southland and eastern Fiordland.