The main pulse of Antarctic air moved over the North Island Thursday morning and by Friday morning high pressure (which helped dredge up this southerly in the first place) will move into the western side of NZ and start to bulldoze the polar southerly away from the country.

This high pressure zone will bring…

• Frosts inland (possibly severe)
• Widespread frosts across New Zealand, including as far north as Waikato and Bay of Plenty, potentially even Auckland will get a light frost in some rural areas on Friday morning.
• Lighter winds nationwide / southerlies fading out by Friday & Saturday
• Clearer skies nationwide (although showers linger in the east of the North Island until late Friday).
• Milder afternoons from Fri/Sat onwards
• Milder nights by the end of the weekend
• Dry weather for most places this weekend

The high pressure zone will move into the western side of NZ this Friday, then spreads over the rest of the country overnight Friday and into Saturday. It will help bring an extended dry spell to the country (much needed in places like Hawke’s Bay and other regions that are saturated on foot).

In true spring style temperatures bounce back into the mid to late teens for many places this weekend and early next week.

Even Dunedin, which only has a daytime high of +5 or +6 today, will be around +17 by Sunday.

Napier, which has a high of only +9C on Thursday, will bounce back to +19 by Tuesday as the high departs with milder northerly winds.

WeatherWatch.co.nz / RuralWeather.co.nz