It's likely to bring heavy rain to the entire West Coast, also Nelson, Taranaki, Wanganui, Waitomo, King Country, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Northland.

MetService is indicating rain warnings are likely for the West Coast but as of Thursday morning weren't so sure about the North Island.

The low is expected to weaken as it approaches the country which is good news for those in Canterbury who could do without any gale force winds. At the start of the week the computer models were predicting very strong winds for Canterbury.

Despite the less intense prediction today fairly brisk winds are still possible especially inland about the epicentre of Saturday's earthquake.

Rain is also being forecast from another, possibly larger, low mid way through next week.

The good news is that Orion - the power company - now has all dairy farms up and running - and as of midnight Tuesday just 500 rural properties were left to switch back on.

The fault line runs through a paddock just a kilometre from him, lifting the ground for 20kms about 1 metre high and close to 5 metres wide in places - an unbelievable shift in land.

He says one interesting fact is that there are rabbits everywhere - they aren't burrowing.

The concern for farmers in this region at the moment is with trees - they shelter belts and hedge rows have been destabilised and strong winds could easily bring trees down - causing more power problems.

High winds may be returning this weekend - and next Wednesday as well.

Richard also told me some amazing facts to do with the town of Oxford, about 20kms north west of him.

He says last Friday they had about an inch of snow.  On Saturday they were hit by the earthquake.  On Sunday they had winds gusting to 135km/h which felled trees and even lifted a roof.  Then temperatures soared into the mid 20s.

I can't think of anywhere else in the world that could see snow, a 7.1 quake, hurricane force winds and temperatures hitting the mid 20s in just a 50 hour period!!

Flood waters have closed several highways in the North Island between Central Plateau and the Tararua Ranges but the good news is that as of noon Tuesday the main rain bands were easing.

Rain was likely to linger about Northland, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula into the afternoon but will be light.

The rain that hit the Tararua district on Monday was a one in 200 year rain event says the TDC.

In Canterbury rain clouds have developed today but they are light and patchy.  At this stage most people should be able to work through the conditions without the weather causing too much of a headache.

But there is the possibility of rain off and on over the next few days - we'll keep you up to date here and on TV.

By the way - do you have any photos of the North Island floods or the Canterbury quake?  We'd love to see them and share them with our viewers.

Mother Nature is pissed with New Zealand for some reason at the moment.

Firstly the Tararua District - heavy rain will continue into the evening especially north of about Palmerston North, however heavy rain may well linger in the catchment areas of the Tararua Ranges well into Tuesday.

The NZHerald was today reporting that some farmers were caught offguard by the downpours and dozens of lambs have sadly died.

If you live in the western part of the North Island you need to be aware of all the current weather warnings and watches issued by MetService.

Meanwhile in Canterbury the sunny, warm, weather is set to come to an end by the end of Monday.

A cold front is surging forward and while rainfall amounts won't be massive there will be a real chill in the air.

Temperatures across Monday have been into the mid 20s across northern Canterbury but temperatures south of Christchurch are much lower.  At 2pm Christchurch had 21 but Timaru had 10.

The cold weather will remain until about Thursday but then conditions should warm up.

A large low, which developed over southern Australia overnight, will push out into the Tasman Sea during Saturday, then track south of New Zealand on Sunday and Monday.

With a large high to the north, with central air pressure up to 1035 hectopascals and a deep low to the south, around 975hPa, that will create a huge drop in air pressure over the country.

On a weather map that means lots of isobars squashed together.  Think of highs as mountains and lows as valleys and the isobars are like topographical lines - the tighter they are the steeper the slope - and in this case that slope is air pressure.  It will cause the wind to slide very quickly creating gales.

While the centre of the low isn't likely to cross New Zealand that should have very little difference on our weather as gales, possibly severe, spread into eastern and central areas and heavy rain moves up the west coast.

On Saturday that sou'wester will ease and most places should end on a dry note but in the deep south something new is lurking.

The first signs will be nor'westers developing later on Saturday.

By Sunday a strong to gale force nor'wester will move up the South Island and into the lower North Island. Except severe gale warnings.

Heavy rain is also likely in the west.  Expect rain warnings.

By Monday conditions will start to improve again, but another Tasman Sea low is possible around Wednesday or Thursday next week for northern New Zealand.

Temperatures for most regions will above normal, especially in the north and west.  Canterbury will be colder than average, while Southland and Otago both had more sun than usual but that also meant harsher overnight lows for a longer period - which will drag down their average temperatures.

My top 3 regions, who I think had the best winters, would be Southland, West Coast and Northland - warmer, sunnier and not as wet as others.  My worst 3 regions would be Canterbury, very gloomy, Bay of Plenty - very wet, although mild which helped, and East Cape - with a lot of rain.  Just my thoughts and you may disagree.

Will have all the NIWA figures to you as soon as we have them.

So with the first day of spring here, most New Zealanders are in for a good day of weather Wednesday with light winds and mostly clear skies - however Hastings, Napier and Gisborne may not be quite so lucky as a low continues to linger off the east coast.

In Southland and the West Coast clouds will move in later today with rain arriving on the Coast by tonight.  Northerlies will build ahead of the front and tomorrow conditions look fairly windy south of about Wellington inland near the ranges.

Rain clouds will head into the North Island tomorrow - but it will be sodden parts of the North Island's east coast that will see dry, mild, weather tomorrow as the nor'west moves in.

For many farmers winter was a mild but wet one.  Long dry periods dotted with torrential downpours which created flooding across New Zealand.   Canterbury would be my pick for one of the gloomiest regions with a lot of cloud and miserable temperatures.

But still, nothing was incredibly severe.

As winter kicked off in June colder weather moved in. We saw snow falling in isolated areas of the South Island and reports of snow on Banks Peninsula. Hail fell in Christchurch.

But it's not too often we can come to the end of winter and talk about no major snow events or cold blasts for the entire season.

Oddly, it's two of our regions closest to Antarctica that have boasted some of the sunniest weather. While low after low tracked across the North Island this winter (the reason it's been so mild over most of the north) plenty of anticyclones protected the South Island (and stopped a strong southerly flow). Southland and the West Coast have had plenty of sunshine and light winds with farmers I've spoken to on the West Coast saying they've never seen pastures looking so good for this time of the year due to the extra sunshine hours.

The low will then become a Pacific Ocean low and will fuel rain, heavy at times, into Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and northern Canterbury.  Rain will be accompanied by colder winds from the east, south east and south and will be heavy about the hill country farms.

Highs in the east will be well down today and tomorrow too.  On Saturday Napier reached 20 degrees, today the city will unlikely reach teens with a high of just 12.

Cantabrians will also see more cloudy, cold, weather, a hallmark of winter 2010.

A large low in the Tasman Sea is very slow moving and is just in the right position to fire front after front across northern and western parts of the North Island across Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Some areas may see some localised heavy falls with thunderstorms possible in Taranaki on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

But, it is going to be warm.  That's all due to a warm northerly wind flow over New Zealand.

Warmest regions with be Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay where some places will reach the 20 degree mark with the nor'westers picking up either on Friday or Saturday.

Northlanders and Auckland will have the added warming affect of humidity.  From the lower North Island and across much of the South Island temperatures won't be quite as mild with winds more north easterly which is cooler.  Highs will reach the low teens but it will be the overnight lows which should be a little warmer than average overnight tonight thanks to increasing winds and clouds.

Frost free weather is expected right across New Zealand tonight - and across the weekend.