Weekend weather warm, wet and windy

Temperatures in Tauranga will be shooting up to an unseasonably warm 18C and 19C this weekend - although you might not notice it with the strong winds and heavy rain.

Metservice communications meteorologist Lisa Murray said while temperatures were warm on paper, the strong wind and heavy rain would not make it feel particularly warm in Tauranga.

Ms Murray said from tomorrow, cloud would begin increasing, starting out "patchy" in the morning and building throughout the day, turning into rain.

There would probably be heavy rainfalls overnight.

Tomorrow morning could see strong northwesterlies developing and the Metservice had issued a severe weather watch for strong gales in the evening and into Sunday morning, particularly in exposed places. It may be upgraded to a warning today. These winds had the potential to cause localised damage and make driving hazardous.

"Sometimes what can happen is the wind can come off the Kaimais and get quite gusty, downslope winds."

Ms Murray said there would also be heavy rainfalls throughout the day.

On Sunday, the rain would ease off to a few showers and winds would be more westerly.

Temperatures would rise during the weekend, then drop off again on Monday.

Tauranga was looking at a high of 15C today.

"Because this rain that's coming is coming from a sub-tropical area, it's quite warm and moist," Ms Murray said. "Temperatures go up a bit to 18C on Saturday - but it won't be bikini weather because of the strong northwesterlies and rain coming in heavy in the evening."

Sunday was looking at 19C, then on Monday, the angle of the wind was expected to change and temperatures would drop back to 15C.

"It's a slight reprieve. That's quite warm for at this time of year - it's quite unusual for July."

Overnight temperatures would be in the double-digits - 10C tonight, 12C tomorrow and back to 8C on Sunday.