High pressure is sliding off New Zealand slowly today as Southern Ocean storms move closer to us. These storms will remain offshore but from Sunday (tomorrow) to this coming Thursday expect westerly gales to surge up and down the country at times and heavy rain on the West Coast – with showers into the western North Island.

So make the most of Saturday!

Temperatures today will be warm nationwide with many places above normal thanks to the building nor’west flow. A mild night tonight too.

Overnight and into Sunday winds pick up.

We’ll have another detailed update today covering what is about to move in.

By the way, all the maps in today’s news story are interactive maps freely available from our website. Simply click on the Maps and Radars drop down at the top (https://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/maps-radars) to find them all. App Users — we’ll be bringing more maps to the WeatherWatchNZ App this year too. Thanks for your support!