Weather-reversal tipped for New Year as north soaks in the sun, rain falls in the south

Plenty of people escaped the searing Bay of Plenty weather in Tauranga Harbour. Photo / Alan Gibson

Don't put your hats and sunscreen back in the cupboards yet, the sunshine is set to remain in the North Island despite a lacklustre start to the holiday period.

Heading into the New Year, the weather in the north is looking summery, meanwhile, those in the south will be treated to more rain.

"The weather is a bit of a swap from what we have over Christmas," MetService meteorologist Nicole Ranger said.

"We had more of an east-northeast flow with wet weather in the north and really nice down south.

"This time it's looking like we're going to have a ridge over the North Island and westerlies and rain over the South Island."

High pressure is building over the country which means, on the whole, the weather will feel more like summer than it has in the past few days.

After a week of gloomy weather, some people are taking every chance to soak in some rays. Photo / Alan Gibson

Ranger said the high-pressure ridge forming over the country will see north-northwesterly winds starting to form.

"The ridge will move north and we'll start to see some strengthening northwesterlies as the weather comes in from the west," she said.

"We're getting into a little bit of a warm sector through the Tasman Sea which looks like it should be pretty wet on the West Coast."

Auckland basked in sunshine today with fine spells and moderate southwest breezes blowing over the city.

The maximum temperature clocked in at 23C and a low of 15C overnight with the same temperatures expected to be reached tomorrow.

To celebrate the dose of summer, thousands flocked to beaches around the North Island to brush off doom and gloom of last week's weather.

Aquatic Play Park in Tauranga Harbour was a special attraction for plenty of people escaping the searing Bay of Plenty weather.

Meanwhile, heading into the weekend Rhythm and Vine attendees will be graced with great summer weather, maximum temperatures expected to reach 29C.

However, festivalgoers near Wanaka at Rhythm and Alps should expect some wet-weather over the weekend but a nice maximum of 27C.