It’s a battle of the air pressure systems this weekend, although “battle” may not be the best word as it conjures up stormy weather – instead we have two big air pressure systems sluggishly both trying to takeover New Zealand.

It’s not a hostile takeover either – the high is slowly spreading over the South Island while the low gently smudges over the upper North Island and southwards.

The two will combine to encourage more winds from the easterly quarter – and this means a lot of cloud the further north you go with sunniest weather the further south you go.

On Saturday most of the South Island will be under high pressure while the Tasman Sea low (which is another one that came from Australia’s interior) will push into the North Island gradually. This means more cloud, more drizzle and showers or patchy areas of rain spreading south into more regions. 

The low is so big that the rain clouds are definitely broken up – it’s not one big widespread rain cloud but areas of rain, drizzle and showers broken up further by New Zealand’s mountains and ranges. It’s possible some wet weather may brush the upper South Island (Nelson/Marlborough) on Saturday too.

By Sunday it looks as though the big low in the north will start to push more into the South Island – while high pressure south of New Zealand retreats a little back over the Southern Ocean.

The high will try to slide up the eastern side of the South Island on Monday but it looks as though the low will be more dominant for the country this weekend and next week – pushing drizzly patchy rain into Canterbury on Sunday too (welcome news for farmers at least).

The low will hang around the upper North Island for nearly an entire week – so get used to cloud, drizzle, showers as New Zealand has it’s first taste of La Nina-like weather conditions. Perhaps a hint of the potential humid and wet summer ahead for North Islanders especially.

– Image / Next Wednesday still shows the low hanging around / Weathermap

– WeatherWatch.co.nz