After a very wet several months in many parts of the country some New Zealand regions are now facing an abrupt drying out phase with little to no rain forecast for some parts for the rest of November.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says a belt of high pressure looks “near continuous” for the next two weeks ensuring plenty of dry weather for many regions, especially the South Island and central areas to begin with.

Head forecaster Philip Duncan says while spring is known for being changeable the long term forecast sees a trend in high pressure systems. “For the next few days we’ll see some big downpours popping up around the upper North Island, but they look pretty hit and miss. On Friday a weak southerly may see a few light showers in coastal Southland and Otago and this coming weekend a sub-tropical low in the north may brush northern areas with a little drizzle, rain is not yet forecast”. 

Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton are the largest centres most exposed to an afternoon downpour over the next few days. The rain forecast associated with the weekend sub-tropical low is not yet locked in, but so far it looks like most rain will fall out at sea, even more so than last weekend. One to keep watch.

Generally speaking high pressure continues to stream out of the Southern Australia area and across the South Island and much of the North Island. 

WeatherWatch.co.nz expects many regions to be drier than usual this month based on the latest information.

“Being spring means a low or rain maker can form suddenly, but the scale of these high pressure systems means some places could be in for a couple of weeks of dry to mostly dry weather”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz will headline any rain events should anything change. Reliable data can see out about 10 days but even longer range models for over two weeks don’t seem to be showing a great deal of change coming, indicating this pattern is with us for the remainder of November.

Maps: Top is today, November 14th, Below is two weeks from today, Nov 28th (Maps by Weathermap.co.nz)

– WeatherWatch.co.nz