Weather: Grey start to Auckland's first weekend in alert level 1

Metservice predicts a grey day in Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

Aucklanders hoping to kick off their first weekend of alert level 1 with a day in the sunshine are going to have to wait.

Metservice predicts a day of cloud and occasional drizzle and northeasterlies in the City of Sails.

However, while it's going to be a grey day, it will be a relatively warm one, with a high of 18C and a low of 13C.

"I guess another way of looking at it is there's no heavy rain on the cards of Auckland for quite a while," Metservice meteorologist Tom Adams says.

While there is rain on the cards for parts of Auckland today, it's "fractions of a millimetre".

"There is going to be some patchy drizzle around for a few days, it is going to be quite cloudy. No one is going to be out there sunbathing today, but it shouldn't stop people getting out and about."

The sun is expected to make more of an appearance on Sunday in Auckland, but some fine spells and odd showers in the east from the afternoon are on the cards, Metservice predicts.

"By Sunday afternoon there should be some good fine breaks [in the cloud] around."

It's a similar story for the rest of the country for the weekend, with "fairly settled" and cloudy weather.

Christchurch and the east coast of the South Island especially is in line for a nice weekend.

"It's generally a nice weekend in the east of the South Island," Adams says.

The exception is the lower west coast of the South Island around the ranges of Westland south of Otira, where a heavy rain warning is in place.

"It does come with 150 to [200] millimetres of rain; now that is not something they are unfamiliar with down there.

"They do get a lot of rain down there. It's a good amount of rain."