High pressure crosses NZ for the final days of 2020 while the start of 2021 may have low pressure.

This set up means some normal rainfall will come in to various regions, however for the most part a drier theme is either returning or staying put.

Rainfall totals this week show 40 to 70mm of rain may fall around parts of the South Island (over the next 7 days) while the North Island has smaller totals, especially northern areas where it’s been drier than normal now for almost two years.

When 2021 kicks off on Friday and this weekend a weak area of low pressure may form over New Zealand bringing some wet weather and lifting totals. It’s still a bit of a messy set up, our rain forecast maps are the best are showing how it visually looks – and to make sense of it locally use the HOURLY forecasts at WeatherWatch and RuralWeather.co.nz.