A cold front sits dissolved over the North Island, while high pressure looks set to dominate the weather for most of the country heading into the weekend – though Saturday sees things take a turn.

Rain and strong winds are on the way for some places on Saturday – as a northwest airflow strengthens and brings some unsettled weather to the South Island, in particular.

 

Thursday

Yellow: Warm and sunny in eastern regions of both islands

A ridge provides a mainly settled day, with reasonably high afternoon temperatures for eastern regions at this time of year – perhaps getting into the mid teens due to a west-northwest airflow. 

 

Friday

Purple: Winds around coastal Southland blow strongly at times

Yellow: Warm once again in the east of the country

A northwest airflow starts to gather a bit of steam heading into the weekend, but it doesn’t look like causing any problems at this stage. 

Saturday

Blue: Heavy rain on the West Coast of the South Island

Purple: Strong winds through Cook Strait and along the east of the South Island

Winds blow strongly as a northwesterly airflow strengthens, and a front moves onto the lower South Island in the afternoon, then pushes onto the upper South Island late in the evening and overnight.

– Please note, the idea behind this update is to focus on the main weather highlights, which is why not all regions are mentioned. 

For specific 10 day information for your city, town, rural community or island please see the 1000 forecasts on our homepage!

– Aaron Wilkinson & Drew Chappell, WeatherWatch.co.nz