Weather: Get ready for a hot weekend

It has been an unseasonably warm autumn so far this year. Photo / Dean Purcell

It has been an unseasonably warm autumn so far this year and is set to hit 22C in Auckland on Sunday -- though rain is expected to bring a bit of a drenching to parts of the country in time for the Anzac weekend.

Today's temperatures remain in the low 20s around much of the country, in particular around the northern regions -- but rain is expected to arrive by Saturday.

Auckland and Wellington have had highs of 21C today, and Christchurch and Dunedin were not far behind on 17C.

MetService communications meteorologist Lisa Murray said it was quite warm for this time of year, but she warned some rain would be coming in time for the long weekend for some parts of the country.

"So far April is tracking warmer than average for many of the main centres of New Zealand."

On average around the country she said the temperatures were about a degree or so warmer than average for this time of year.

The sunny skies that have been around for the past couple of days were expected to slip away towards the end of the week, with rain and heavy falls expected to the west and south of the South Island during the second half of Friday.

The rain will reach the North Island on Saturday, with some heavy falls expected in the west.

Some sunshine is expected around parts of the country on Anzac Day, though MetService predicted the wet weather would likely stick around Northland, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay and the south and west of the South Island early on Monday.

Ms Murray said the warmer temperatures would gradually cool down over the incoming weeks.

"We are into autumn now, temperatures are slowly decreasing, we will see them cooling as is seasonal."

The forecast

Today

Auckland: Mostly sunny H 21, L 14

Wellington: Sunny H 21 L 11

Christchurch: Sunny H 17 L 6

Dunedin: Sunny H 17 L 11

Tomorrow

Auckland: Chance of shower

H 21 L 13

Wellington: Cloud increasing

H 18 L 14

Christchurch: Sunny

H 21 L 9

Dunedin: High cloud increasing

H 21 L 12

Saturday

Auckland: Cloudy periods, chance of shower

H 22 L 15

Wellington: Showers turning to rain, northerlies possibly gale

H 18 L 12

Christchurch: Occasional rain

H 22 L 7

Dunedin: Morning rain, then showers

H 17 L 10

Sunday

Auckland: Showers turn to rain

H 20 L 13

Wellington: Rain to showers then clearing

H 17 L 11

Christchurch: Becoming fine

H 16 L 6

Dunedin: Occasional showers

H 17 L 10

Monday

Auckland Mainly fine

H 20 L 11

Wellington: Fine

H 18 L 11

Christchurch: Fine at first, chance of shower late

H 19 L 6

Dunedin: Showers clearing

H 16 L 10

Source: MetService