A south-west flow covers NZ on Friday with high pressure over the Tasman Sea inching closer for the weekend – but not fully reaching us. This means drier weather for many but not completely settled for all.

Let’s get into the forecast for Friday to start with…

RAIN:
Wet weather clears the eastern North Island this morning, mainly around Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne. A weak cold front brushes Southland later and a few showers may form elsewhere over the South Island mainly – but can’t rule out a lingering isolated shower in the North Island.

WIND:
Winds are mostly south-west over NZ today, although some areas may have it tilt a little more westerly.

TEMPERATURES:
It’s perhaps still a little cooler for places today but should be a tad warmer than yesterday was.

WEEKEND AND NEXT WEEK
Saturday is similar to Friday, but a weak southerly change brings a few showers up the country, mainly coastal and mainly hugging both the western and eastern coastlines.

Sunday has high pressure expand over the North Island with mostly light winds, but nor-westers kick in around Wellington and those west to north-west winds get a little stronger (and a little warmer) for the lower South Island. Again, isolated showers are possible over the country, but many regions are dry to mainly dry.

Monday kicks off with more westerlies over NZ, with another front brushing the West Coast and heavy falls in south Westland and Fiordland. The rest of NZ is dry with warmer nor-westers further up the country. High pressure is parked over Northland.

Tuesday again sees high pressure over Northland and loosely covering the rest of NZ – by that we mean it may be cloudy in the west with a couple isolated showers. Winds aren’t calm for all, but no where has strong winds.

By Wednesday that high is slipping out to NZ’s east and dragging down a sub-tropical airflow for some regions, along with a windy nor’wester over the South Island. Much of NZ looks dry or mainly dry on Wednesday, but a small sub-tropical low is worth monitoring, and at the southern end of the map the next cold front looks to be approaching Fiordland and Southland.

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