Northlanders are set to be battered by gale force westerly winds today and MetService warn the gusts may become severe at times in exposed places.
Shower with squally thunderstorms are also on the radar for the region - and it's not looking spectacular for the rest of the country either.
Heavy rain and thunder is also forecast for most of the upper North Island including Taranaki, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.
Rain will develop this morning in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa, with heavy falls north of Napier.
It will be cloudy across Whanganui, Taihape and Welling with a few showers that should clear this afternoon.
Marlborough, Nelson, Buller, Westland and Fiordland will be much the same and in Canterbury and Southland there will be fine spells, with patches of fog and frost
persisting in some inland valleys.
A few coastal showers are also on the cards for the south.
Overnight Tauranga was the wettest place in the land, recording 5.2mm of rain.
The coldest spot was Alexandra, which dropped to an icy -5.4 degrees.
Tomorrow the North Island can expect rain in the east easing to isolated showers and fine spells with a few showers elsewhere.
The South Island will be mainly fine apart from a few showers near the coasts which will become confined to Fiordland and the far south.
MetService say "high impact severe weather" is expected to affect many parts of New Zealand from Tuesday to Wednesday.
"There may be flooding, disruptions to transport due to snow and stress to livestock and damaging severe gales," it said.
"It is also worth noting that coastal areas exposed to a strong onshore flow, high waves and heavy rain could be affected by inundation."
A front is expected to move northeast onto the South Island on Tuesday, followed by cold southerlies and snow is expected above 200 metres in the far south, but 400 metres in Canterbury