A very large anticyclone will dominate the country today and tomorrow bringing clearing skies and warm weather to most regions across the country.

Day time highs may even reach 20 degrees in some places such as Northland and Gisborne with many North Island areas expected to reach the upper teens on Saturday or Sunday as a nor’wester develops. 

The large high will hold firm over the nation until later on Saturday when a cold front moving in from the Tasman will see clouds and winds building. 

Showers are expected to form in some western places later on Sunday although at this stage WeatherWatch believes the weekend will be mainly dry for most centres, even through Sunday.

Light winds and clear skies should mean it will feel warm in most places even if daytime highs aren’t predicted to be too high for some, especially in the South Island.

But despite the settled weekend early next week looks quite different with heavy rain liekly to develop along the West Coast and strong to gale force nor’westers moving in to inland parts of the South Island east of the main divide.   

The strong to gale force winds are also likely to affect Wellington and Wairarapa on Tuesday.

MetService is also watching this next system with moderate confidence of heavy rain along the South Island’s west coast and some confidence of gale force winds in the east from Otago to Wairarapa.