High pressure covers NZ today with light winds and a few showers through both main islands. The high slips off more of NZ in the days ahead, ushering in windier and warmer west to north-west winds.

🔥👩🏻‍🚒🚒🚁🌡️💨#Fire is today spreading through Whangamarino Wetland (a @docgovtnz area of environmental significance in North Waikato).

Hotspots from past 24 hours + current wind flow.

cc @FireEmergencyNZ 10 Day, Hourly, wind & rain for #Whangamarino: https://t.co/yS8dqDzRtG pic.twitter.com/oVzvzCZUg6

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) October 22, 2024

Let’s get into the forecast for Tuesday to begin with…

RAIN:
Cloudy with a few showers moving up the South Island but most places are dry. A few isolated showers form around the North Island, otherwise dry. Keep an eye on the rain radar across today if rain matters to you, as some showers may suddenly develop.

WIND:
Winds are fairly light and variable around much of the country today under high pressure. Perhaps a slight southerly for the coastal east of the South Island.

TEMPERATURES:
A warm day today inland with above average temperatures, especially inland. Temperatures are about normal for coastal parts of the South Island with that slight southerly coastal breeze.

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WEEK & LABOUR WEEKEND AHEAD.
On Wednesday high pressure is centred to the north of the country while a storm tracks south of NZ. Between the two systems the spring-like windy westerlies return, piling up heavy rain in the southern half of the West Coast, along with strong to gale force (and maybe severe gale force) W to NW winds in some places. Sub-tropical air will make many regions warmer than average with dry weather across the rest of NZ under windy nor’westers. Canterbury and Marlborough may reach the mid 20s, or closer to 30 degrees.

On Thursday that heavy West Coast rain continues and moves further northwards up the West Coast and a few showers spill over into Southland and western Otago. Strong to severe gale west to north-west winds blow through the upper South Island and lower North Island. Dry or mainly dry in most other regions. Another hot day in the east, especially places like Hawke’s Bay which may reach the mid 20s.

As we head into Friday and Labour Weekend a large low pressure zone will develop and brings some severe weather risks to the nation. But this is still a bit messy and not locked in who will get what – and not all regions have severe weather.

We will have more details in our next weather video out today.

As always drill down deeper with your hyper-local, hourly, FREE 10 day forecasts from WeatherWatch.co.nz – or download the FREE WeatherWatch App.