Muggy nights look set to hang around

Low lying clouds cover Whangarei Heads. 29 January 2016 Northern Advocate Photograph by Michael Cunningham

Northlanders and visitors steaming through high humidity and sticky, muggy nights won't be getting any relief for the next week or so.

The region has been blessed with some great weather and decent high temperatures but with that have come hot, sticky humid nights, MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said.

With the after-effects of tropical cyclone Victor slipping past the eastern side of the country this week, it had left behind a moist front that was leaving some low cloud and an increased chance of thunderstorms across Northland this weekend, which will welcome an influx of visitors from Auckland and elsewhere for the long Northland/Auckland holiday weekend.

Ms Murray said Northland was suffering from high humidity more than any other part of the country, with the difference between daytime high temperatures and overnight lows only a few degrees, which leads to uncomfortable nights.

She said the weather patten also meant a moderate risk of localised thunderstorms across the region, starting inland then heading towards the coast.

"A moderate risk means we think there is a 40 per cent chance of thunderstorms happening in Northland [today] and into Sunday. It means the conditions are right for there to be thunderstorms," Ms Murray said.

"There's a chance some of those could bring quite heavy downpours of 25-40mm an hour, which could lead to surface flooding, but those would be quite localised rather than widespread. So if you are out on the roads be careful."

Today there would likely be cloudy patches, light rain and sunny spells across the region, with rain, cloud and sunny spells tomorrow and into Monday.

The official daily highs would be around 27C today, 26C tomorrow and 25C on Monday, but Ms Murray said the problem was that the overnight lows would likely be 18C to 19C each day. Those conditions would likely be around for at least the next week.

"So sadly there won't be any respite from those warm, sticky, humid nights for you for a while yet. So it's going to be a drag for some people to get to sleep."