What remains of tropical cyclone Evan could lash the Coromandel with strong onshore winds, rain and heavy swells this weekend.

 "Evan's current track takes it more or less southwards and it is likely to pass within a few hundred kilometres of northern New Zealand during the weekend," MetService chief forecaster Peter Kreft said. 

Evan is moving away to the south of Fiji and the very stormy conditions experienced on Monday in Viti Levu have eased.MetService expects to take over warning responsibility for Evan on Thursday,when it crosses 25 degrees South latitude.

Evan is unlikely to still be categorised as a tropical cyclone by the time of its closest approach to the North Island, but it will have brought a large amount of tropical air into the New Zealand region.That means potential for heavy rainfall in places with strong onshore winds. 

"Currently, MetService is forecasting rain this weekend for Northland, Auckland and Coromandel," Mr Kreft said.

There is still a lot of conflicting information about Evan's track beyond Friday. 

Mr Kreft said it is likely to swing away from the North Island into the north Tasman Sea on Sunday, but that's far from certain. 

"We're very conscious of the possibility of a track which takes Evan near East Cape. This would be a totally different ball game."

Irrespective of Evan's path through the New Zealand area, Christmas Day is likely to be warm, and probably not windy, in most places.

However, it is still a little early to say which - if any - areas might be wet.

- © Fairfax NZ News