A westerly airflow lies over New Zealand on Friday with wet weather in the west, dry / sunnier weather out east. Westerlies continue on Saturday then a front with an associated southwest change pushes into the lower South Island in the evening.

A shower or two for the western North Island today, more so from afternoon. Sunny conditions in the east. A similar story for the South Island with rain or showers in the west, sunny weather in the east with a touch of high cloud at times. A few areas of rain spread into most of Southland / Otago later this afternoon and evening for a time before clearing away.

Rain or showers for western parts of the country on Saturday, drier and sunnier out east with some high cloud. Rain may be heavy at times for the West Coast of the South Island especially South Westland.

By Weather Analyst Aaron Wilkinson – WeatherWatch.co.nz