Weather: School holidays set to be drizzly with fine spells

Spring will be warmer, wetter and more humid this year. Photo / Stuart Munro

Parents should pull out the colouring books and stock pile some movies for the first week of the drizzly school holidays.

But Weather Watch head analyst Philip Duncan said gloom, cloud and rain will make way for drier weather in the second week of the holidays.

He said the first week is looking cloudy and showery for the whole North Island. While the South Island will be drier and more settled.

"About 70 per cent of the country is going to be exposed to showers and drizzle patches from Saturday through to Thursday... There will be plenty of dry spells though.

"Generally most people will still be able to go away next week, but if you can choose, the second week is looking a little bit more promising with a bit of a high coming in."

Duncan said no snow is expected over the next two weeks although the warm weather is likely to be followed by a little cold burst.

The Bay of Islands and Coromandel have almost identical weather patterns with showers that improve by Tuesday. Taupo will be wet until Wednesday when the sunny spells start kicking in. Hawkes Bay and Wellington will be gloomy and drizzly until a clearance on Friday and Saturday, but then the rain is expected to come back.

Nelson has lots of unsettled weather going on around the township but it may be protected by its mountain ranges, Duncan said. While Queenstown is one of the best places to be this week with the odd shower but otherwise calm, dry weather. Duncan said Queenstown is warmer than it should be at this time of year.

This spring and summer are likely to be warmer, wetter and more humid than usual, Duncan said. But this doesn't mean we won't see the sun as the rain should come in "tropical downpours" rather than sprinkled across every day.

Duncan thinks Canterbury could produce some record breaking heat this summer due to airflows hitting the country from the central Australian desert. Currently the hottest recorded temperature is 42 degrees.

This Sunday we lose an hour as Daylight Saving kicks in. Kiwis will have to put their clocks forward an hour when 2am becomes 3am.

Duncan said our weeks are getting 15 to 25 minutes more sunlight every week. After daylight savings we'll get dark mornings for a few weeks but the early sun will be back by November.