Heavy rain watches have been issued for Whanganui, South Taranaki and Taihape as much of the country is set to be battered by wet weather and rain, amid unseasonably warm temperatures.

The heavy rain watch for Whanganui and Taihape is effective from noon to midnight on Friday, June 27.

South Taranaki’s heavy rain watch is from Thursday evening until 3pm on Friday.

The watches have a moderate chance of being upgraded to warnings, categorised by a forecast 100mm of rain in 24 hours.

“For the inland areas, that watch is a hint that some of those accumulations could be heading towards warning amounts,” MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said.

“It’s one of those weekends to keep a close eye on the forecast and keep the rain radar handy.”

Makgabutlane urged people to take care on the roads if they were travelling and to get creative in entertaining children.

“It is the start of the school holidays so keeping a few indoor options in the back pocket will probably go a long way,” she said.

“If there is any travel ahead of the school holidays, or just travel in general, taking extra care on the roads is crucial because there could be quite a lot of water.”

Although only the northern, inland areas of Whanganui were part of the watch, Makgabutlane said no one was exempt from the rain.

“Those inland areas, especially closer to the ranges, could get a pretty decent amount of rainfall, but for most places it would be good to expect quite a wet day.”

Strong northerly winds are forecast.

The forecast high for Friday is 19C, dropping to a low of 14C, but Makgabutlane expected temperatures may not reflect how cold it felt on the ground.

“I don’t know how warm it will feel with all that rain around, but it could be a little bit muggy if anything,” she said.

Moving into Saturday, the rain is expected to fluctuate throughout the day.

“We could get a period where the rain eases up for a bit but, as the day goes on, we’re expecting some showers to move through.

“That continues into Sunday.”

Showers are expected to ease by Sunday evening.

A slight drop in temperatures can be expected on Saturday with a high of 17C and a low of 10C as the northerly wind turns.

“On Saturday we’re expecting a shift more towards westerly winds, they don’t look too strong but I would keep an eye on the forecast.”

Sunday is forecast to have another drop in temperatures, to 15C and 9C, as “stronger westerlies” move through.

Updates on the rain watches and other severe weather conditions can be found at metservice.com/warnings.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.