Rain and shine for Christmas Day

BusinessDesk Investments Editor·Herald on Sunday·

16 Dec, 2017 04:00 PM3 mins to read

The first tentative predictions for Christmas Day weather are out, and it looks like a mixed bag around the country.

In the lead up to the big day, summer sunshine will beam down across most of New Zealand, particularly in the North Island over the next few days.

Spots of rain are expected, particularly at the bottom and western areas of the South Island but Metservice forecaster Ciaran Doolin said a ridge of high pressure was keeping most of the country fairly warm. "Pretty much everywhere but the West Coast is really nice.

"There's going to be a few showers around the ranges of both the North and the South Island, but as far as where most of the people live, it's looking pretty nice."

But by the time we reach Christmas, things are looking less settled.

Metservice has just released its 10-day forecast for New Zealand, with some areas including Whangarei, Auckland, and Christchurch looking warm and sunny.

But Taupo, Nelson, and Queenstown are having a rougher time, with rain forecast.

Doolin warns there's still plenty of time for that to change.

"There's an important caveat with that, that beyond day six the forecasts are computer generated, so basically automated.

"These ones give us a bit of an idea, but as we get closer a manual forecast written by a forecaster will be more accurate.

"Certainly shouldn't be taken as gospel at this stage."

Under the current forecast, Christchurch is the hottest, with a scorching high of 29C.

On the other side of the South Island Greymouth is lumped with the coldest Christmas, with rain and a high of 21C predicted.

Not everyone will be unhappy about the predicted rain, with farmers in need of some wetter weather.

Wellington is currently facing a water shortage, but is among those expecting a dry Christmas.