Get out the board games and pick a movie, Saturday is going to be rainy

Pesky showers will put a damper on outdoor activities today - but fear not, Sunday will bring a brief reprieve.

The MetService is forecasting a cloudy day todayin Auckland, with showers tonight and tomorrow morning and some heavy and thundery showers from the Waikato to Taranaki.

The South Island will also suffer a wet, dreary day - with some winds around Dunedin and Invercargill, and the possibility of hail in Canterbury.

A wind watch has been lifted for the deep south, but the Wairarapa and parts of Hawke's Bay are likely to be affected by westerly gales through to Sunday morning.

The weather will clear across the country for Sunday.

Make the most of it, as the outlook for the second week of the school holidays is more cloudy days with a few showers, leading into possible heavier rain next weekend.

However, the weather remains slightly warmer than Auckland's April average of 20C, with highs of 21C today and 19C or 20C every day next week except Monday, when the maximum may dip to 18C.

MetService meteorologist Sarah Haddon said a west-southwesterly flow would cover the country for most of the next week.

"In those southwesterlies the general trend for the week is that it's showery on the west and relatively fine in the east. Areas like Fiordland are going to be wetter than other areas," she said.

Today and tomorrow a front moves up the country that will bring some showers to the east as well as the west.

"On Monday it will be fine in the east again. Then we expect another front to move up the South Island on Tuesday and on to the North Island on Wednesday, bringing showers to the east."

The unsettled weather is typical for autumn.

"A showery west-southwest flow at this time of year is not uncommon," Haddon said.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) forecasts above-average temperatures in all regions through the autumn, as the warm ocean waters around the country are forecast to persist through the next three months.

"Even though seasonal-average temperatures are very likely to be above normal, frosts will occur in cooler locations as late autumn progresses," it said.

Rainfall is tipped to be above normal in the north and east of the North Island, near normal on the South Island's West Coast, and close to or above normal in all other regions.