A big area of low pressure is moving over the country and although they often bring moisture to some degree, not everyone will get too much liquid sunshine today.

The driest places appear to be in the east, from Gisborne down to Timaru, but even then one or two showers are possible but a warm Nor’ wester should see the mercury top the 20s for Gisborne, Napier and Hastings.

Further west and in the north of Aotearoa a different scenario is more than likely, with showers and some quite heavy at times too, combined with strong and gusty winds.

In amongst all of that, some sunshine should make an appearance in many areas, however for those on the mainlands West Coast and in Otago and Southland, the big yellow may not be seen much at all.The cloud base is quite low and rain is a little more widespread and with that too, winds may come in from the easterly direction, keeping the temperatures rather cool.

Springlike conditions are certainly being felt in the north first thing this morning with Paeroa on 17 degrees , Whangarei and Whitianga on 16 and a host of 14s and 15s across the North Island, mainly due to the presence of a warm northerly. Nelson and the West Coast are looking at similar conditions this morning but for the rest of the mainland, it’s generally cooler with temps in single figures but it is drier than their western counterparts.

September has begun with some warm and sunny days, interspersed with cooler, cloudier and showery days, which is not uncommon for the beginning of Spring. It is also often the windiest season, and systems like these are not all that rare for this time of year.

The West Coast is often in the firing line for these rain bearing depressions and today looks likely to be no exception as the low moves only slowly, bringing some heavy rain to the region.

Summarising, it’s a bit of everything today and mainly unsettled too, courtesy of this large depression, beginning to engulf the nation.

Weather Analyst Richard Green