Cold fronts and low pressure zones are impacting the weather across NZ and Australia, bringing some rain relief to dry regions – but probably not enough to reverse the drought or dry conditions some places have. Still, the wet weather will be welcome by many even if it’s only 10mm.

The Autumn Equinox is at 4:06pm Wednesday in mainland NZ (2:06pm in Sydney). In the weeks ahead the nights become longer than the days, which means there is less chance for the sun to evaporate the wet weather that falls. Another silver lining for those who want rain. But overall we’re still seeing a lot of high pressure controlling our weather – but that may also bring in the Autumn westerlies to parts of NZ over the next 10 days, and to the south-eastern corner of Australia.