One second Wellington looked like it may have a sunny week with periods of cloud then the next day showers or drizzle patches ended up looking likely. Not often do I see such big variation in weather models, apart from Sam Wallace on TVNZ’s Breakfast the morning of the Sevens tournament who was a Gladiator, human hotdog then a baby all within 3 hours.

The week ahead may not be as challenging but still has plenty of variety. So settled periods, sunny spells and showers look likely for all at some point this coming week with highs and lows mulling about. So let’s get to it.

On Monday a low pressure system sits off to the northeast of New Zealand spreading a southerly airflow over the North Island, regions out west can expect a mostly sunny day with south to
southeasterly breezes. Winds tend more southwest in the afternoon Waikato
northwards and there is the risk of a brief isolated shower Waikato northwards
too.  Along the east coast and about Wellington expect patchy rain or drizzle,
southerlies will ease during the day.

In the South Island a ridge of high pressure brings mostly sunny weather with light winds, easterly quarter winds in
the east. Canterbury sees morning cloud break to sunny spells, about Marlborough
cloud may a bit more persistent with morning drizzle clearing about the coast
and clear spells not moving in till later in the day.

Tuesday brings sunny spells to the North Island in the west with westerly breezes. There may be
a few isolated afternoon showers about inland Bay Of Plenty, the Central North
Island and southern Waikato. For the east coast and about Wellington, any
morning drizzle clears with sunny spells developing in the afternoon, southerly
breezes die away.

The South Island has mostly sunny weather in the east with east to northeast breezes, cloud gradually increases in the west ahead of a front in the Tasman Sea. This front brings showers to Fiordland from morning
which then spread north later in the day or overnight. High cloud increases
about the lower South Island during the day with the odd spot of rain about
Southland from afternoon.

On Wednesday the east coast of the North Island finally gets some good weather, expect northwesterly winds and some high cloud with warm temperatures. Becoming cloudy in the west with northwesterly breezes,
showers move through for most during the afternoon with a west to southwest
change. The South Island sees showers on the West Coast and a cool southerly
change spreads north along the east coast during the day bringing showers, some
of which could be heavy with thunderstorms about Canterbury. Marlborough remains
mainly dry however.

Moving onto Thursday we are all finally seeing the light of the weekend (which is actually looking reasonable at this stage weather wise). An anticyclone sits in the Tasman Sea spreading a west to southwesterly
airflow over New Zealand. Expect cloudy spells on the west coasts of both
islands, the odd shower is possible at times also. The east coast of the North
Island and Marlborough is looking great with warm temperatures and light winds.
South of about Banks Peninsula a cool west to southwesterly airflow delivers
some cloud and the odd shower.

Friday is a very similar looking picture to Thursday although winds are looking to be lighter and showers not as frequent as the anticyclone in the Tasman makes more of an influence on our conditions.