Windy nor’westers move up the country over Friday and Saturday with severe gales in some locations and heavy West Coast rain.

Let’s get into the forecast for Friday to start with…

RAIN:
Rain sets into the West Coast with heavy falls in the southern half – keep an eye on those MetService warnings. Wet weather also spills over into Southland and parts of Otago. Dry elsewhere.

WIND:
Nor’west winds rise to gale and severe gale in some exposed eastern parts of the upper South Island and around Cook Strait and Wellington. Lightest winds are in the north of the country.

TEMPERATURES:
Today is mild to milder than average nationwide.

WEEKEND AND NEXT WEEK
By Saturday – Windy west to north-west winds with severe gales in parts of the upper half of the South Island. Wet weather continues in Southland and the West Coast. Apart from a couple isolated showers in the western North Island most other regions are dry or mainly dry on Saturday.

Sunday sees conditions easing – with lighter winds for most, but still some showers around the country.

On Monday cooler sou-westers carry on bringing showers into Southland, sorry, and a few showers remain over the upper North Island.

But by Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday high pressure looks to once again move into the country bringing calm weather and mostly dry skies – although showers, some heavy, are likely in the upper North Island.

Low pressure and a cold front looks to come in later on Thursday from the west and bring an unsettled end to the week on Friday and a windy and mild weekend looks likely next weekend – at this early stage.

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