The chance of a typical summer’s day is looking more promising for the North Island this weekend, with the sun coming out to play for most of the country.
It follows a week where much of the country was hit by a deluge of rain brought by ex-tropical Cyclone Hale.
A slow-moving ridge of high pressure brings New Zealand settled conditions as wet weather interruptions throughout the country are brief and light, says Metservice meteorologist Angus Hines.
“There is no major rainfall for today... It’s basically a fine day with just a couple of quick shower risks,” he said.
Northland will see showers this morning, possibly heavy before easing and becoming isolated in the late afternoon with a chance of fine spells
Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato and Bay of Plenty areas will see a partly cloudy morning with isolated showers, which turn into long fine spells this afternoon.
It will be mostly sunny from Wellington up to New Plymouth all day today with cloud and possible showers lingering along the eastern coastline.
A slow-moving ridge of high pressure is the dominant weather feature for our weekend, which should provide sunshine and warm temperatures to many places https://t.co/Yjbq0jgaoz ^PL pic.twitter.com/0ZEtxikVpC
Ex Cyclone Hale dumped heavy rain in the Coromandel this week and caused surface flooding in Whangārei, as storm damage left homes without power and seaside reserves submerged in water.
Roads in the Coromandel were badly hit with floods, slips made driving tricky in some areas of the district.
Thames-Coromandel District Council took to Facebook to show the extensive damage caused by the remnants of Cyclone Hale, which left sea walls crumbling and footpaths covered in debris.
The 60km coastline between Cooks Beach and Matarangi fared the worst.
“Our council’s staff and contractors have done an initial assessment and we’ve already started urgent repairs and clean-up.
While no exact cost figures are confirmed yet, the council says the bill to repair the coastal areas from ex-Cyclone Hale is expected to run into the “serious” six figures.
Ex-Cyclone Hale has caused significant damage along the East Coast, leaving the community with a bill in the 'serious' six figures. Photo / Thames-Coromandel District Council
Several roads have stop-go traffic management in place or temporary speed restrictions and great care is advised on all roads.
Temporary speed limits of 50km/h remain on SH25 Tapu and SH25 at Kōpū after former slips have been cleared.
Meanwhile, Niwa weather said Auckland has had around 26 hours of bright sunshine so far in 2023 in comparison to the average 93 sunshine hours the city of sails usually has in the first two weeks of January.
Auckland has had about *26 hours* of bright sunshine..... this entire month 😳
On average, the first 12 days of January would have 93 sunshine hours.
