'Typical' stormy start to spring

It's going to be a stormy start to spring with rain on the radar throughout the country this week.

Meteorologists are warning Kiwis about a series of lows - bringing heavy, isolated rain, cloud and wind - making a beeline for New Zealand.

Winter officially ends today.

MetService meteorologist Emma Blades said temperatures should remain steady this week but people should be prepared to dig out their brollies for a wet spell.

There are weather watches for heavy rain in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, and potentially severe gales in Waikato, Waitomo, Taumarunui and Taranaki today.

And there's not much light on the horizon, with the rain expected to settle in for the rest of the week.

"It is going to be very wet to start with and a few showers lingering through the middle of the week.

"It eases back on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday but there might be some more wet weather on Saturday.

"The general story for the North Island is most places are going to get some rain with heavy falls."

By tomorrow, the east coast of the South Island would also get rain, and gales were expected on the west of the North Island and upper South Island, Ms Blades said.

Snow was expected down to 600m in Otago on Wednesday.

WeatherWatch said the country would see "generally mild" weather with plenty of rain over the next two weeks. It was not necessarily good news for ski bunnies, with more rain and cloud forecast instead of frosts and snow, WeatherWatch said.

"The first week of spring looks fairly typical - but may be slightly warmer than average, with another low coming back in next weekend bringing wind and rain."

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