Enjoy the sun while it lasts - rain's on the way this weekend

Enjoy the fine weather while it lasts because rain is forecast this weekend.

A mainly fine day was forecast today for most of the country with low cloud in places keeping temperatures up, said MetService meteorologist Tom Adams.

"Enjoy this week, there's a wee system heading our way this weekend," he said.

Low pressure coming in from east coast of Australia would bring rain by the end of the week - "but leading up to that it's not a bad week".

A southerly bringing cloud would make its way up the South Island today, meaning patchy drizzle for a few spots on the east coast including Christchurch and the Wairarapa.

"With this southerly a few temperatures down south will be a bit lower than average. There's a few fronts in this but they're pretty slow-moving and they're pretty weak.

"Places that get stuck under them, like the West Coast, will see drizzly weather on and off.

On the East Coast, a fine day is forecast for Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, Adams said.

A tongue of warm air coming in from the tropics in the west also meant some cloud on the West Coast today.

"It's like a river of warmer air coming in from the tropics."

Ashburton was slightly colder than usual for this time of year with a high of 15C, but otherwise temperatures for most of the country were as expected.

Much of the North Island was forecast to sit in the mid to low 20s today, and even Wellington was looking at a high of 20C.

Today's forecast

• Whangarei: Mostly cloudy with southwesterlies. 22C
• Auckland: A cloudy start, but fine breaks developing. Southwesterly. 22C
• Hamilton: A cloudy start, but fine breaks developing. Southwesterly. 23C
• Tauranga: Fine apart from some morning cloud. Southwest breezes. 26C
• Wellington: Fine apart from morning​/​evening cloud. Brief southerly. 20C
• Christchurch: Cloudy, chance light rain. Wind turns northerly. 16C
• Greymouth: Light rain. Westerlies dying out. 20C
• Queenstown: Cloudy periods, chance morning shower. Westerlies. 20C