A south-westerly flow has spread across NZ and will continue to do so for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Windiest weather will be Thursday, then the south to south west winds start to ease going into Friday and the weekend, although they’ll still linger in some coastal areas as a brisk wind.

Thursday is cooler for the North Island but drier for the South Island.

Showers are mostly around the North Island but a few linger in the deep south on Thursday.

High pressure south of Australia – a powerful high in fact – is the main driver of this weather, and this high drifts further int the NZ area this weekend and next week, although a sub-tropical disturbance near northern NZ may help keep this high pressure zone further south.

• WeatherWatch.co.nz