Heavy rain, strong winds on its way to NZ

Hold on to your hat, there's a storm coming. Photo / file

Stormy weather is expected to hit from late tomorrow - bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

There's a big storm in Southern Ocean heading towards New Zealand, and a subtropical storm to the north of the country.

The subtropical storm is expected to drop heavy rain on Hawke's Bay and Gisborne today and tomorrow.

MetService severe weather forecaster Mark Pascoe says Wellington will be particularly hard hit.

"It's quite possible we'll get severe gales around Wellington on Thursday but it';s a long way out. It is going to be quite windy and it's going to be windy for a long time and a lot of rain in the west and later in the week it's going to turn cold," he says.

Mr Pascoe says the winds will probably last a couple of weeks.

- Newstalk ZB