Wednesday temperatures in the main cities will be Auckland on a high of 23C, Wellington 20C and Christchurch only expected to get to 18C.

Things are expected to be more brighter on the east coast around Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti, although some showers are set to spring up in the eastern ranges from Wednesday afternoon.

The front is also set to bring more cloud and patchy rain to both Taranaki and Wairarapa but this is expected to have weakened by the end of the day.

Napier and Hastings are set to remain warm with highs of 27C, most other places in the North Island will be set fair in the early 20s.

The South Island will also experience a mixed weather bag on Wednesday, as the front brings a band of wet and cold weather up from Fiordland, settling around Hokitika and Christchurch.

Cloud is set to move through Canterbury, Marlborough and Nelson in the afternoon, however, most places will be dry and fine come the end of Wednesday.

Temperatures in the South Island will be cooler overall compared to the North Island, with Invercargill reaching a high of 14C and some winter-like lows of 5C in central Otago.

The top of the South Island will be slightly warmer though with Nelson and Marlborough set to reach the early 20s.

By Thursday, things will continue to get cooler and wetter, with the slow moving front remaining draped across the North Island.

A second front pushing in to the lower South Island is also set to bring cooler air and heavy rain.

MetService says that come Friday, most parts of the country will be cold and wet.