We are now in the final official week of winter and North Islanders go out with a sub-tropical low while South Islanders go out with a high.

Sunny and settled weather has been moving in to more and more regions over the past few days and those who missed out on stunning skies over the weekend will get it this week.

But as we mentioned last week a sub-tropical low is waiting in the wings – and our long lasting high will be to blame for making this low stall over northern New Zealand as we head into this coming weekend.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says the low will bring pockets of heavy rain, especially around recently flood hit Northland.  “We’re telling Northlanders not to be overly concerned but to at least regularly monitor the forecasts if you live in a flood prone area”.  Mr Duncan says the rain will be off and on and not solid for days – but the low itself will hang around for several days.  “The low moves in from our north west but is then held up by the blocking high which is today giving us settled weather across New Zealand.  That high may hold the rain clouds up over northern New Zealand from from Thursday until Sunday”.

Strong north east winds may also be a feature between the low and the high (the squash zone) but at this stage rain is main concern.  

However if you live south of Lake Taupo this incoming low will unlikey have a major impact on you – if any.   In fact, those in the southern half of the South Island may miss any rain, cloud or wind from this low altogether, especially if you live in Southland and Central Otago.

WeatherWatch.co.nz will have daily updates on this developing low.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz