Lower pressure in the Tasman Sea is drifting towards the country by Friday and Saturday and it will bring the chance of downpours and isolated thunderstorms, especially late week and into Saturday for the upper North Island and north-west and western side of the South Island.

The eastern and southern sides of the South Island also have the chance of downpours or wet weather in the coming days, although eastern areas in both main islands from Hawke’s Bay to Canterbury look to be the driest, especially closest to the coast. Inland areas have a better chance of downpours.

This Friday and Saturday rainfall totals may exceed 80 to 100mm in some parts of both main islands – due to the hit and miss nature of these downpours we do expect the North & South Island rainfall maps to move around a little bit in the days ahead.