After a week of cold, windy and wet weather the nation is in for a dramatic change to the opposite – with sunny, settled and warm weather returning to our shores.

The return to calm weather is thanks to a large high that has actually contributed to the windy weather over the past few days.

The high, which has a central air pressure of around 1035hPa, is moving slowly and will be centred over New Zealand by the middle of the weekend.  This high air pressure, along with a deep low to the south east of the South Island, has created a large squash zone, squeezing air over New Zealand making for strong sou’westers in many areas.

The high is likely to linger too – bringing sunny, dry and warm weather to much of the country into the start of next week.

The large and powerful high will mean cooler nights though – with little cloud and wind overnight to help keep temperatures up lows in most places will be in the single digits or in the upper North Island, the low double digits.

Despite the cold air this week, and the incoming high, frosts are not being predicted by WeatherWatch.co.nz this weekend.

Image / Autumn Colours sent in by Kyla Dyresen

– WeatherWatch.co.nz