MetService has issued heavy rain warnings and heavy rain watch notifications for areas of the tops of both of New Zealand's main islands.
Gisborne is in for a dousing, with an orange heavy rain warning issued for Tairawhiti, north of Tolaga Bay.
MetService said for the 24 hours from 9pm tonight, the region could expect up to 120mm of rain.
It advised that streams and rivers may rise rapidly, and that surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions were possible.
The Coromandel Peninsula and Kaimai Range also had a yellow heavy rain watch from 10pm today until 4pm on Monday.
Meanwhile in the South Island, the ranges of the Tasman District northwest of Motueka could expect periods of heavy rain from 10pm today to 8am tomorrow, with a chance to upgrade to orange warning levels.
Niwa said the wet weather forecast over the next few days would still not give much of a reprieve to the driest parts of the country.
Meteorologist Tristan Meyers said the west of the North Island was seeing the driest conditions this summer, with meteorological drought being observed in parts of Waikato, Taranaki and the central plateau.
The heaviest of the rain would miss these areas, and the trend of dryness looked like it would stick around, he said.
In the South Island, parts of western Otago, Haast and the West Coast were also very dry, Meyers said.
