Updated 8:38am Friday — High pressure is moving in across the country today bringing lighter winds and drier skies to most places.

A few isolated showers are possible today – especially eastern inland North Island near the ranges, where an afternoon thunderstorm (or just some heavy downpours) may form, along with a few showers brushing the lower eastern South Island too.

Generally speaking today is settled – but Saturday sees a surge of warmer/hotter nor’westers ahead of a cold front moving up NZ on Sunday. Spring like!

Meanwhile, in the tropics, Severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper has just been upgraded to a Category 4 cyclone. We have a special video about the cyclone out today, and likely again on Sunday too.

---

Maps most relevant today are…

• MetService Severe Warnings & Watches – ahead of gales and heavy rain
• Live Rain Radar
• Thunderstorm Outlook
• Animated Temperature Maps

See your hourly & 10 day forecast at WeatherWatch.co.nz – or for more details and event planning visit RuralWeather.co.nz for the most detailed and hyper-local forecasts in NZ.

---

• It’s possible further updates will be added to this Newsfeed today, please check back for updates.
• A detailed weekend weather outlook will be in our next Weather Video – out around noon today.
• We’ll have extra news updates about Severe Cyclone Jasper at WeatherWatch.co.nz this weekend.

🌡️Cooler air this AM around #NewZealand – all thanks to high pressure rolling in for today & Saturday. (Cold front on Sunday in the south).

Spring weather pattern in NZ often lasts until the end of December. Most places lean drier than average next 7 days due to high pressure. pic.twitter.com/fjpIFbS0wE

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) December 7, 2023

🌀Severe Tropical Cyclone #Jasper remains Category3️⃣ this morning. The Bureau of Meteorology twice delaying the shift to Cat 4 overnight, but still expecting it in the coming hours.

It's less than an hour from sunrise where #CycloneJasper is over the #CoralSea. pic.twitter.com/MXPGQim9MN

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) December 7, 2023