School holiday weather: Sunny skies across New Zealand before next round of heavy rain, snow

5 year old Bodhi Cribbens playing beach cricket with his Dad on Takapuna beach, Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

School holidays are off to a sunny start for much of the country, but more rain and snow is set to return by the end of the week.

MetService forecaster Louis Fernandes said New Zealand should expect settled weather for the rest of the weekend and the start of next week.

“A ridge of high pressure that’s moving over New Zealand, that always brings very settled weather.

Plenty of ☀ to go around over the next couple of days! pic.twitter.com/KoVmTW6yli

— MetService (@MetService) September 27, 2024

“There will be a few showers here and there but for the most part nothing that will put too much of a dampener on people’s holiday plans.”

He said the east of the country would experience the nicest weather for the start of the holiday period.

“For the South Island, Canterbury, all the way up to Nelson and Malborough are looking quite sunny and dry.

“For the North Island, almost everywhere is looking pretty good, but you’re really guaranteed sunshine and mild weather in the eastern parts. Gisborne down to Hawke’s Bay are going to be your best bets.”

A warm spring day at Takapuna beach, Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Fernandes said temperatures wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for this time of year.

Whakatane is forecast to be the hottest place in New Zealand today reaching a high of 20C, while Tauranga and Napier are set to reach 18C.

Tomorrow, Masterton and Blenheim are forecast to reach a high of 21C and Hamilton, Palmerston North, Ashburton, and Whanganui are set to reach 20C.

Our latest Severe Weather Outlook shows the potential impacts of an incoming weather system; full details can be found here: https://t.co/ePtVj8uyUZ pic.twitter.com/JnquLdK46r

— MetService (@MetService) September 28, 2024

However, by the middle of next week, wet weather would return to New Zealand.

Fernandes said the western parts of the South Island such as Buller to Fiordland would see increased rain.

“For the North Island, we are going to start seeing cloud increasing if you’re in Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Northland and even towards Taranaki,” he said.

“On Wednesday, we start to see a lot of wet weather spreading across all of New Zealand. The only areas, at this stage, that are looking to be mostly dry are Hawke’s Bay down to the Wairarapa and Gisborne.”

Snow is forecast to fall in parts of Otago and Canterbury high country on Wednesday with the southern regions in line for unseasonable wintry conditions. It warns of possible stress to livestock and disruption to transport.

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