Aucklanders are waking to blanketing fog this morning, with more than a dozen flights delayed or diverted at the airport.

Auckland Airport said it had now put fog restrictions in place and 20 domestic regional flights have so far been delayed.

Three domestic arrivals have had to be diverted away from Auckland.

Flights between Auckland and major cities Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown have not been affected.

International flights are also unaffected.

Passengers should check Auckland Airport’s website for the latest flight arrival and departure information.

Auckland residents staying put in the city can expect the fog to clear to a fine morning before isolated showers arrive in the afternoon.

The city is expecting a high of 16C today and tomorrow, forecaster MetService says.

Whangārei, Tauranga and Hamilton can also expect fine conditions over the weekend with occasional showers and highs ranging from 15C to 16C.

Wellington and Christchurch are also expecting mostly fine weekends with temperatures ranging from 11C to 14C.

However, MetService also warned the next nasty weather system was already on its way to New Zealand and was due to arrive before the weekend was up, bringing “with it a widespread risk of severe weather”.

“Wind and rain will approach warning criteria for many parts of Aotearoa,” it said.

That include a moderate chance of very heavy falls along the West Coast of the South Island and Nelson as well as Taranaki in the North Island.

There was a lower risk of heavy falls across much of the rest of the country.

Strong winds and in some cases severe gales are also expected to buffet most of the country.

Forecaster WeatherWatch expects between 60mm and 150mm to dump on the Nelson region between Sunday and Tuesday.

The large weather system would bring gales to both the south coast of Australia and then into New Zealand, WeatherWatch said.

“The rough weather may impact flights in both nations (especially turbo-prop planes and smaller airports) with some highways impacted too,” WeatherWatch’s Philip Duncan said.

“In Nelson, more rain is coming from Sunday to Tuesday – which may lead to further pockets of flooding and slips, which may also impact highways.”

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