Low pressure is dropping southwards today, over the South Island leaving some heavy showers in its wake for the upper North Island.

A short lived cold snap will spread up the South Island on Friday PM (or overnight) and into Saturday – before clearing most places by Saturday night. It will bring lower morning temperatures to both islands over the weekend, but by next week the subtropical airflow returns thanks to a huge and strong anticyclone east of the country. This will scoop mild air from Rarotonga and Tonga and drag it down over most of the country for a time.

But the weather pattern remains messy, with plenty of showers coming into the nation over the next week – along with some large dry areas.

Despite the brief cold change, most places will likely be warmer than average for this time of year over the coming 7 days due to the prolonged northerly or subtropical flow.