The country has a couple of days to dry out following the weekends downpours but more rain is expected towards the end of the working week according to WeatherWatch.co.nz.

The high, currently over New Zealand, will strengthen its grip Tuesday but will start to drift east over the Pacific on Wednesday.  Behind this high is a large area of unstable air that’s looking increasingly likely to spawn a low pressure system, pulling air down from the tropical north.

Rain or showers are likely to spread down again from north of New Zealand making for another wet, humid, Thursday or Friday across the north and west.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says this is typical La Nina weather.  “These lows forming in the northern Tasman Sea or even further north are very typical of La Nina.  Last year we had highs holding firm over the country stopping them from reaching us, but this year the highs just aren’t sticking around, allowing these lows to develop nearby and bring rain”.

MetService is monitoring the low with ‘moderate’ confidence rain warnings might be issued in eastern Northland and parts of the South Island’s west coast.

WeatherWatch.co.nz will monitor the development of this next front but Mr Duncan says it’s too early to know how much rain will fall and whether or not it will bring heavy rain.  “We’ll have a much better idea on Wednesday or Thursday about rainfall numbers and which regions will be the wettest”.

“At this stage this predicted low doesn’t appear to be of the same magnitude as last Friday’s one”.

Duncan says we’re in a 7 day cycle at the moment with rain bearing fronts every 7 or 8 days and highs only lasting a few days in between.

High humidity is expected to return to regions north of Waikato by the end of this week too.  On Sunday WeatherWatch.co.nz’s humidex, which measures humidity plus air temperature, calculated the temperature felt more like the low to mid 30s in Auckland and Northland.  He says similar heat may return on Friday and Saturday.  “Just a week ago it felt like Autumn, now we’re seeing some warmth return.  March is usually quite a warm month so this is all relatively normal”.

The northerly flow this week should also keep eastern areas of the South Island much warmer, following a cold end to February.  Daytime temperatures should be in the 20s for much of the week.