Fine filling for wet-weather sandwich this weekend

We could be in for yet another bleak weekend at the top and bottom of New Zealand.

While most regions are set to enjoy fine weather, a "high pressure sandwich" is threatening rain and showers at either end of the country.

WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan said computer models were showing rain or showers were possible from Northland through to Waikato and the Bay of Plenty this Sunday.

He said a small area of low pressure to the north of the country was behind the wet outlook - but there was still disagreement about how much rain it would produce.

While most of the rain was out at sea it would skirt the narrow northern coastline.

"This means there's a very fine line between dry weather and wetter weather and so the forecasts may change a bit as we continue to fine tune the data," said Mr Duncan.

At this stage, Sunday was the most likely day for rain as the area with rain and showers moved southeastwards.

However, this could easily change as there was an atmospheric tug-of-war between high and dry and wet and cloudy.

Brisk easterly winds were also expected to blow across the island for a time.

He said a weak front bringing wet weather to the far south would disintegrate as it tracked up the island on Sunday.