The spring season is just around the corner as temperatures rise for many parts of the North Island.

Temperatures are well above average for many areas today as a large high north of New Zealand helps fuel the warmer weather, WeatherWatch analyst Philip Duncan said.

A sub-tropical portion of air will move east of the country today as the windy nor'westers are pushing air from Australia and the Tasman over the nation.

There winds would warm up as they cross land, he said. As a result, today was "much warmer than average" for this time of the year.

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While temperatures in Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty were sitting in the late teens and early 20s, Hawke's Bay was the warmest.

"If this is what spring will be like then we can expect more record-challenging and record-breaking warm events," Duncan said.

"Highs in the low to mid 20s are more common in windy weather in September or October than August".

However the South Island was considerably cooler today, with single-digit highs or highs below teens, he said.

Earlier, trees have fallen on cars and houses, power has been cut to hundreds of homes and a road has been closed by a landslip as wind and rain lash Auckland.

The Fire Service said it attended 14 wind-related callouts last night, with one tree falling on a house in Kelston while another struck an occupied car in Waterview.

No injuries were reported, a spokesman said.

About 800 homes in pockets of West Auckland were still without electricity this morning. Power company Vector was expecting to have the faults fixed by 9am.

The steady stream of rain that has hit the city over the past two days also caused a landslip in Titirangi's Scenic Drive, which remained closed overnight between Shaw and West Coast Rds.

About three tonnes of debris, including dirt, rocks and trees, were completely blocking the road between Titirangi and Waiatarua last night.

Police said the Scenic Drive landslide was near the Arataki Visitor Centre.

There are also slips on State Highway 25 between Waihi and Whiritoa.

Bad weather is also causing havoc for emergency services across the upper North Island, as rain continues to batter the region.

A MetService meteorologist said it has been raining in Auckland for the past 30 hours, since 11am yesterday.

Around Auckland several homes and garages have been flooded and are having water pumped out.

Winds have picked up again this morning in Auckland and these winds are likely to surge back up again towards evening, Duncan said.

This means Aucklanders and other Northerners may have yet another restless or broken sleep tonight as blustery winds, up to gale force, blow in from the northwest then turn more west-to-southwest overnight, he said.

Tomorrow the morning blustery west-to-southwest winds would affect many North Island regions and some coastal parts of the south.

Tomorrow night looks calmer and quieter across the country, he said.

HERE COMES THE RAIN

Auckland is experiencing one of the wettest 48-hour periods the city has had this year.

Duncan said there weren't many parts of the country that often received set-in rain for more than 24 hours.

Fiordland and the West Coast were no strangers to days of relentless rain but further north, rain tended to move through much faster.

The Southern Alps on the West Coast blocked the rain clouds but in Auckland, the city was surrounded by separate bodies of water, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Duncan said.

"With no tall blocking ranges, rain clouds tend to pass through quickly, which is why the almost 24 hours of rain in our largest city is unusual - and why more rain for the next 12 hours or so will make this one of the wettest 48-hour periods the city has had this year as far as total hours with precipitation.

"There is one main difference between Auckland's set-in rain and what the West Coast gets - today the rain is fairly patchy and light, not at the levels we see further south."