Welcome to autumn, summer is over but the weather remains calm and warm

The first day of autumn has brought some rain to parts of the country but temperatures remain humid. Photo/Warren Buckland

Summer is officially over, but weather for the first day of autumn continues to be warmish and muggy in many parts of the country.

March 1 brings the first day of autumn on the meteorological calendar and the weather around New Zealand is calm, mild and a little cloudy for some under a large high.

Most of the country has been waiting for summer to arrive since before Christmas but foul weather, storms and unseasonably low temperatures have been the norm for many regions.

Summer did cause a drought in Northland and warmed up, to a lesser extent, the Coromandel and Western Bay of Plenty as humid temperatures arrived in Auckland and Waikato late last month.

Today sunny spells will break through in the north and showers will become more isolated but intense according to weatherwatch.co.nz.

The mercury will rise into the mid 20s this afternoon around parts of Waikato, Auckland, Coromandel and Western Bay of Plenty.

Showers will mainly feature across those same regions, though, mostly in the Bombay Hills area near the end of Auckland's Southern Motorway.

Cloudy spells are also affecting the eastern side of the South Island. Christchurch brightened up a bit yesterday but the past few days have been fairly cloudy at times despite no rain for the dry region.

Napier yesterday had drizzle patches but today looked drier.

A huge high parked over New Zealand means the first day of autumn is set to be similar to the last day of summer.

The high remains over the country until Friday. Over the weekend the high pressure balloon pops as a fairly light south west flow moves in.

The next big high appears to be around next Wednesday, mostly for the South Island and lower North Island.

And as tropical rainmakers try to push down towards New Zealand this second high will push back.

A battle of the pressure systems will happen over the North Island between dry high pressure and humid, wet sub-tropical air that is trying to sink towards the North Island towards mid-March. It's too early to know which system will win.

Main centre weather today

Whangarei:

Long sunny spells, easterly breezes. High 25, low 17.

Auckland: Humid with a chance of heavy showers this afternoon and sea breezes. High 25, low 17.

Hamilton: A few showers, chance of afternoon thunderstorm. Light winds. High 25, low 13.

Tauranga: Mainly fine, chance of shower. Light winds, sea breezes. High 23, low 17.

Wellington: Fine, some morning cloud. Northerlies freshening. High 22, low 14.

Christchurch: Fine, morning and evening cloud. Southerly change. High 25, low 13.

Dunedin: Fine, some low cloud morning and night. Light winds. High 19, low 14.