Whanganui weather: What to expect

Rain should give way to dry conditions by Saturday afternoon. Photo / Bevan Conley

An active line of showers was heading over Whanganui on Thursday.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said there would be rain off and on all day, some of it heavy, with gusty northwesterlies.

"Some stations up in the high country have got 9mm [of rain] an hour, and that will certainly be feeling heavy.

"Our Whanganui Airport station will be getting 2mm an hour. That could be in a short period of time though."

Clark said there was the possibility of squally thunderstorms in Whanganui later in the day.

A high of 18C was expected.

Conditions would be rougher in South Taranaki on Thursday.

"They are on a severe thunderstorm watch at the moment and that will go through to the evening," Clark said.

"There could be downpours, anything above 25mm an hour, and gusts in excess of 100km/h.

"Driving conditions will be really hazardous, with poor visibility on the road. It's certainly something to be aware of."

Winds were turning more westerly in Whanganui on Friday, Clark said.

"They will then turn southerly in the afternoon.

"Again, there will be on and off showers but there should be some more sunny breaks in between.

"A high of 17C is expected."

Clarke said the southerly change would bring cooler temperatures overnight on Friday, with a low of 6C forecast.

Saturday was looking "pretty good".

"There is the chance of an early shower but it will be generally fine with a high of 16C. It will be a good start to the long weekend.

"Cloud will increase on Sunday as another feature starts to move on but it should be a dry day as well."

There would be an overnight low of 5C on Saturday and a daytime high of 18C on Sunday.

An overnight low of 9C was predicted on Sunday.

Clark said cloud and periods of rain were set to return for Monday's public holiday, with a daytime high of 19C.