Easter Friday is off to a wet and warm start for most of the North Island while those in the South Island woke to a frosty cold morning.

In the South Island, Wanaka recorded a morning temperature of 2C and Alexander recorded 0C.

“It was a pretty cold and frosty start to the morning down there. A good part of the South Island is pretty cold,” said MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor.

Meanwhile, O’Connor said North Island regions, especially those in the east, woke to warm and wet conditions.

Hastings recorded 10mm of rain in an hour around 6.30am while near Gisborne, Hicks Bay recorded 20mm and Tolaga Bay recorded 10mm of rain since midnight.

“Gisborne itself hasn’t recorded any rain yet but it’s on the way for them and we’re expecting some heavy falls over the region,” said O’Connor.

An orange heavy rain warning for the region has been in place since 6am today and remains until midnight on Saturday.

MetService said the ranges could see between 100 to 140mm of rain while the coast would see lesser amounts. Peak rates of 15 to 25 mm/h of rainfall is expected.

There is also a heavy rain watch in place for Hawke’s Bay from 9am today until 3am Sunday.

A heavy rain watch period for Northland overnight ended this morning but O’Connor said while the rain had eased off, the area should be prepared to see some more this afternoon and some showers on and off throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Auckland had some showers this morning but is in for a mostly cloudy day.

O’Connor said the best places to be today are on the West Coast of the South Island and in areas between Taranaki and Wellington.

“The west coast, Taranaki round to Wellington, Kapiti Coast and Whanganui is going to pretty nice for the North Island. It will be partly cloudy, so not full skies, but a nicer day compared to the rest of the North Island anyway,’ said O’Connor.

In the South Island, a southeasterly flow will result in sunshine for the West Coast.

Cloud and some drizzle across the rest of the South Island is expected to clear throughout the day.

Moving through the long weekend, rain for the North Island, especially in the east, won’t begin to clear until late on Saturday.

On Sunday, the rain will start to move away from the east of the North Island and start to track south across the rest of the country.

The South Island will start to see showers and rain on Sunday and Monday.