On Thursday we have a ridge of high pressure over the Upper North Island, which is a very similar situation to Wednesday – things haven’t moved around too much.

The rest of the country is covered in a gusty northwesterly airflow, though now we have a a southwest airflow blowing through Southland and Otago from morning which moves through Canterbury in the afternoon.
This south to southwesterly airflow (southwest for the lower South Island, more southerly in Canterbury) brings cloudy areas and showers to the lower South Island – though Canterbury may only see the odd patchy shower reaching South Canterbury for a brief time in the evening before clearing.

The West Coast sees some rain (heavy first thing about Fiordland) then easing late afternoon or evening.

– Aaron Wilkinson & Drew Chappell, WeatherWatch.co.nz