Many people often ask us what La Nina means for them. Friday to Sunday’s temperatures show a classic La Nina set up with a north east flow across the country, boosting temperatures above normal especially through inland and southern parts of both main islands.

This set up also means many coastal zones to the north and north east of both main islands have normal daytime temperatures (thick cloud cover and winds off the sea limit how warm it gets there). In fact some may even be a bit cooler than normal with this set up (Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty).

La Nina is slowly developing and lifts sea surface temperatures north of NZ. As a result of that, more low pressure zones tend to form and impact NZ – as we’re seeing today and into this weekend. It generally encourages normal daytime temperatures for coastal parts of the upper North Island that face into the wind – but above normal temperatures in western and southern parts of both main islands. This is precisely what we see on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with some parts of the South Island’s interior over 8 degrees above normal for this time of year.

Overnight minimums should be above average for most regions too.

Need to drill down deeper? The temperature graphs at RuralWeather.co.nz include windchill, humidex and humidity to make sense of it all and how it may feel to you when outdoors.