New Zealand is halfway between the building La Nina conditions in the tropics north of us, and the stormier than usual weather south of the nation – bringing variety to our weather in the weeks ahead.

We have a taste of this set up over the next 7 days with a subtropical low next week moving towards the upper North Island while at the same time a huge storm in the Southern Ocean may affect the very south.

But we have a lot of high pressure surrounding NZ in the coming days – bringing hotter, drier, weather for many – but also the risk of some afternoon or evening downpours and isolated thunderstorms. It’s the high pressure belt separating the La Nina conditions in the north from the stormy weather to New Zealand’s south. A few moving parts to monitor at the moment.