Updated 8:44am — A cold front that moved up the South Island yesterday ran out of steam far sooner than expected as the Southern Alps and a large high over the North Island started to tear it apart.  Today its remnants will scatter across the North Island in the form of cloud and the odd shower or drizzle patch.

The cooler air will make it to the lower North Island but isn’t likely to head much further north.

Rainfall totals should be low for most regions as the fronts disintegrates further, although some areas, especially Auckland and the western side of the North Island will see drizzle/light rain set in at times, mainly this morning.

By Friday it will be pushed out to sea as a new high rolls in – this next high will basically shut down the southerly flow that has been frequent over the past two weeks.

This new high will anchor just south east of the South Island pulling in a north to north east flow over New Zealand for another week or so.

The long weekend still looks fairly settled – but don’t think settled equates to sunny.  A lot of eastern areas – and northern areas like Auckland – may still see a lot more cloud due to the humid north to north east wind flow over the country.

Humidity mixed with afternoon heating means afternoon heat showers are likely, mostly around the Southern Alps but also some North Island ranges.

Overall we have a 20% risk of showers in the North Island this long weekend and about 10% for most South Island centres – but that lifts to 40% for the inland ranges.

– Homepage image / David Shone

– WeatherWatch.co.nz

What are conditions like where you are?  Did you even notice the southerly change or was it too weak?