It appears next week will be a very quiet weather week.

Monday will start the week off with some showery conditions for the western sections of both islands early in the day.  Then some clearing should settle in during the afternoon.

On Tuesday, dry and settled weather is expected across the country all day long as a large ridge of high pressure moves in from the Tasman.

Does that sound familiar?  It should.  It’s the same set up we’ve seen the last few weeks.

And, just like the last few weeks this high will be a slow moving high.  It won’t last quite as long as the last one did, but it is expected to stick around right through next week and into next weekend.

So, don’t look for any widespread outbreaks of precipitation next week.

Of course, it won’t be all bright sunshine either.  That classic “anti-cyclone gloom” may bring a healthy dose of clouds and even a few light showers to Northland and Auckland on Friday and Saturday.

The coastal sections of the deep south of the South Island could also end up with more clouds than sun as well as a chance at some spotty light showers toward the end of the week.

But as we begin the first week of May, it will look more like the last two weeks of April did, which looked more like January should have.

But don’t look for January like temperatures.  It may not look like May, but it will feel like it with typical autumn temperatures.

By WeatherWatch Analyst Howard Joseph