No rain for fire-ravaged Canterbury today

Weather forecast imagery shows the rain drops falling around the central and northern parts of the country.

As blustery winds continue to fan fires in Canterbury, the much-needed wet weather is hanging back - to the north of the country.

Weather forecast imagery shows rain falling around the central and northern parts of the country.

MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said the bulk of the wet weather was in Northland where up to 80mm has fallen.

"Which is really welcome, being in a drought area."

As fires continue to rage in Canterbury fanned by blustery winds the much needed wet weather is hanging back - to the north of the country.

Niwa tweeted that Kaitaia has had 76mm of rain in the last 24 hours, in its wettest day in five years.

#Kaitaia has received 76 mm of 🌧 in the last 24 hours, making it the wettest day in 1794 days (!) or since March 20th, 2012 @northernadvocat

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) February 15, 2017

It's wet weather Cantabrians are hoping for as fires continue to rage in Christchurch's Port Hills, leading to mass evacuations.

But Coutts said rain wasn't expected in the area until the weekend. He said winds this morning weren't too strong, but are expected to pick up.

"We expect [the northeasterly] to peak in the mid to late afternoon, in high levels in the Port Hills of 40-50km/hr.

"If the direction is going to stay consistent that's helpful for the fires."

The MetService's forecast showed a largely fine day in the Garden City, apart from morning and evening cloud, with a fresh northeasterly picking up by mid-late afternoon.

Small drops of rain were expected from tomorrow afternoon until Saturday, though the sun and hot weather was expected to return on Sunday.

In the other main centres, Wellington was largely fine today, with a high of 23C, turning to rain tomorrow.

In Auckland, today is expected to stay wet, with some heavy falls continuing tomorrow and Saturday.