Since we first launched our official Christmas Day forecast about a week ago we were fairly confident of a settled Christmas Day.  Just two sleeps out WeatherWatch.co.nz maintains that prediction – with settled and mostly dry weather for Christmas Day.

But settled doesn’t always mean sunny – it usually refers to calm, mostly dry, weather.

At this stage the big high that will bring the calm weather to the nation remains centred over the South Island – and on the northern edges of that high is a fair bit of cloud and moisture.

We’ve seen evidence of this all week with heavy showers popping up across Waikato, BOP, Auckland and Northland.

The forecast for the next three days looks similar. 

The showers can be tricky to pinpoint but we have a 30% risk of a shower for Auckland, Northland, Gisborne and possibly Coromandel and Bay of Plenty – and there could be some extensive cloudy periods, which we’re still monitoring.

But despite the odd shower, conditions are still expected to be mild and mostly dry with light winds or easterly breezes (in the north).

Hottest weather for Christmas Day will be Central Otago.  Alexandra may reach the low 30s.

Keep up to date over the next two days with our official Christmas Day forecast