Severe weather warnings over parts of North Island

Viva the dog enjoys the flooding at Walmsley Park in Mt Roskill after a heavy downpour. Photo / Michael Craig

Severe weather conditions are forecast in some parts of the country today, with high winds and heavy snowfall warnings in place.

The MetService issued a number of severe weather warnings and watches this morning.

There are warnings over much of the North Island - with heavy rain expected over the Tararua Range and heavy snowfall for those in Taumarunui, Taihape, Fiordland and Southland.

A cold front is moving quickly over the northern part of New Zealand, bringing with it westerly gales to parts of the North Island and colder conditions south of the South Island.

Severe forecaster Mads Naeraa-Spiers said there was a watch over most of the North Island; including Auckland, which has a high of 16C and evening rain with a strong south-westerly wind change.

An overnight low of 9C is forecast in the City of Sails today, as well as a few showers throughout the day.

"So anywhere there's not going to be a warning out there, there'll be a watch out,'' Naeraa-Spiers said.

"And we've still got the warning for snow for Fiordland and Southland and the watch for central Otago, as per the current watch."

He said those in Taihape and Taumarunui, which both have snow warnings, could see 10cm of snowfall tomorrow morning - down to about 700m with snow flurries down to about 600, he said.

"We've got the wind warning from southern Hawke's Bay and Tararua district. I'll put the gust speeds to up to 130km/h. And we'll still go with a rain warning for the Tararua range...around 50 to 60mm from noon until 6pm today.''