A surge of severe gales and heavy rain is expected across the North Island for 48 hours.

This comes as Hale, now an ex-tropical cyclone, is expected to strengthen into an extra-tropical storm in the NZ area on Tuesday, before departing to the south east by late week.

The storm wasn't even a tropical cyclone for 24 hours, making it just over half a day before losing it's official named status, says WeatherWatch.

A map showing Hale's path on Tuesday. Photo: WeatherWatch.co.nz

"Hale was never expected to be a major storm - the real issue for New Zealand has always been what would happen to it once it reaches here and redevelops," says a spokesperson for the weather organisation.

"All tropical cyclones that reach NZ lose their official "tropical cyclone" status at some point, usually just north of Northland - then the storm changes into an extra-tropical storm, this can make the system rapidly grow in size and whilst it loses some intensity at the centre, it grows much larger overall (put another way, the energy gets spread further from the centre).

"The remnants of what was Cyclone Hale will bring another burst of severe weather to North Island camping grounds and holiday spots - but the good news is that it's unlikely to stick around with most forecasts expecting it to leave NZ on Thursday.

"The storm brings with it the risk of slips, flooding, power cuts, trees down and road closures."

Rainfall forecasts for when Hale hits this week. Photo: WeatherWatch.co.nz

WeatherWatch says the centre of the low is expected to move into Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty on Tuesday night/overnight Tuesday.

MOST IMPACTED

The low/storm is expected to make a direct hit into the North Island on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Most affected at this stage:

• Eastern Northland
• North Auckland
• Eastern Waikato
• Coromandel Peninsula
• Bay of Plenty
• East Cape & Gisborne
• Hawke's Bay
• Wairarapa
• Cook Strait Area

Please note, other regions may have severe weather too from this storm. Keep up to date with the latest MetService severe weather watches and warnings for New Zealand.