Final week of school holidays could be a washout

Keep your raincoats and gummies at the ready - wet weather is set to continue for the final week of school holidays with a risk of thunderstorms and heavy rain warnings.

It has been a wet weekend for most parts of the country as a slow moving low pressure system approaches from the Tasman, expected to bring more heavy rain today.

But it's not all bad. A brief window of fine weather can be expected for most on Thursday before another front moves over the country. Then, it will be back to board games and watching movies on the couch as more rain is set to wash away the holidays.

The heaviest falls this weekend were expected about northwest Nelson where a heavy rain warning was in force from Saturday evening through to tonight. The intensity of downpours could reach 25mm per hour today, when thunderstorms are possible.

MetService warned rain could cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly as well as surface flooding and slips. Rain could also make driving conditions hazardous.

A heavy rain watch has been issued for parts of the central North Island and upper South Island including Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Tongariro National Park, Mt Taranaki and coastal Kaikoura, through to Monday.

And, as if that wasn't enough, there was a moderate risk of thunderstorms for most parts of the North Island including Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, Whanganui, Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty this afternoon and evening.

MetService meteorologist Tom Bell said thunderstorms could bring heavy rain and lightning to Auckland to add to an already wet Sunday.

The outlook for the South Island was not much brighter with moderate risks of thunderstorms for Nelson, northern Buller, Marlborough Sounds and western Marlborough ranges on Sunday afternoon and evening.

Showers were set to continue for the North Island early next week however, rain was expected to ease in northern and eastern parts of the South Island on Monday.

Thursday will be the day to get out and play, with a ridge of high pressure set to deliver a fine day for most parts of country. The North Island may just get lucky with a few hours of sunshine on Friday as well.

However the settled weather was likely to be short lived as another front was expected to make its way across the country on Friday and Saturday, which would see the rain return.

After a sopping wet September, a drier and warmer than average October was forecast.

MetService Meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said while we would still see fronts and lows on the weather maps, these were expected to be far less frequent than was usual for the time of year.

Here's hoping for some sunny days.