A surge of strong westerlies is tracking south of Australia and coming directly in towards New Zealand from this Tuesday onwards, lasting over a week and bringing warmer than average weather to both islands.

Some parts of the South Island will have double digit overnight lows while eastern parts of the North Island will be in the late teens and may go into the low 20s within the week in some areas.

We have a few cooler days in the mix too, but nothing that screams out mid-winter – if anything, it will continue to feel like an early spring for many.

Rain in Gisborne and East Cape finally clears away on Tuesday – once the westerlies arrive eastern New Zealand will become mainly dry while western areas take the bulk of the rain (especially the West Coast).