Whanganui weather: Persistent rain expected to clear by Friday

Rain fell steadily in Whanganui overnight on Wednesday. Photo / Bevan Conley

The heavens opened above Whanganui on Wednesday night, but the rest of the week isn't looking quite so damp.

Metservice meteorologist Dan Corrigan said 14.6 millimetres of rain fell between 10pm Wednesday and 9.30am on Thursday.

"Most of that fell in the last couple of hours, from around 7.30am. There were 7.4 millimetres."

Rain would be the order of the day for most of Thursday.

"That should clear out on Friday morning," Corrigan said.

"Apart from one or two showers, it will be mostly dry for the rest of the day."

The wet weather came courtesy of a low-pressure system just off the coast of Gisborne, which had a band of rain wrapping clockwise around it.

"At the moment it's wrapping from off the east coast of Wairarapa, across the lower North Island, and then takes a northward turn through Taranaki," Corrigan said.

"The bottom section of it is going to keep raining over the lower North Island for most of Wednesday."

Corrigan said the rain in Whanganui over the next 24 hours wasn't expected to reach warning criteria.

There would be mostly dry weather on Saturday and Sunday.

"There will just be a bit of cloud about, which is fairly typical March weather, with southerly to south-easterly winds."

The maximum daytime temperature would be 22C on Thursday, 20C on Friday, 21C on Saturday and 20C on Sunday.

"These temperatures are around average for what we expect to see in Whanganui.

"Overnight temperatures are looking fairly typical as well.

"The warmest will be Thursday night, 15C, then it will be 11C or 12C for most of the next week.

"For those wanting to spend some time outdoors on the weekend, we recommend keeping an eye on the forecast to make sure it's still dry."