More showers, some heavy with isolated thunderstorms are possible on Monday and maybe again on Christmas Day, with Christmas Eve in between looking the most settled.

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MONDAY
Showers, some heavy with possible isolated lightning are expected to form over both main islands on Monday. These are most likely to form inland along the eastern half of NZ, down to Otago and Southland. Again they will be hit and miss with large dry areas around them. Other showers are also possible off the Tasman Sea in the west and isolated ones may also be a bit heavy. Track on rain radar if rain matters to you.

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TUESDAY / CHRISTMAS EVE
Tuesday is an especially good day for those at home, travelling, on holiday or preparing for people to arrive with light winds and mostly dry summer weather around the country. A few isolated showers are possible. As you can see from the map below a large low is forming over the Southern Tasman Sea due to a cold southerly that has popped up around Tasmania. That low should weaken as it moves into NZ over Wednesday and Thursday – but brings some wet weather then.

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WEDNESDAY / CHRISTMAS DAY
Christmas Day is looking to start off dry in many regions, and for some it will be dry all day. As we’ve said for a week now an incoming low pressure zone means rain over the Tasman Sea is heading our way. It will likely arrive on the West Coast and the Far North initially, then drift in to more regions in northern and western NZ as the day progresses. It’s possible heavy downpours will also form during the day bringing the risk of thunderstorms in both main islands. Where they precisely form may not be known until Tuesday or even the day itself – as is often the nature with daytime heat showers (and light winds can cause them to drift). Risks are in both islands for downpours in the afternoon or evening – and we’ll have more details on Monday – or maybe not until Tuesday – locking this detail in.

OUR VIDEOS THIS WEEK
We’ll have full details in our Monday weather video covering the week ahead. We also have a weather video on Tuesday and again later this week on Friday as we head towards New Year’s Eve.

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OUR WEATHERWATCH ALERTING APP
Travelling or heading away? Download our free weather alerting app (with paid upgrades for multiple alerts) – use the “find my location” feature so you can get the local weather forecast for whatever rural location, beach, village, town or city suburb you’re in.