The incoming high for Friday and the weekend for most of New Zealand doesn’t mean clear blue skies for everyone says WeatherWatch.co.nz.

Low cloud and a few small showers are trapped under the high so as it moves in towards the North Island western areas in particular will have a mix of sunny and cloudy spells and even the odd isolated light shower or drizzle patch. 

Image — Colourised infrared satellite map shows the Tasman Sea full of low cloud (pale blue) / MTSAT, NOAA

While the weather is expected to be 99% dry for most of New Zealand the West Coast of the South Island may not be quite so lucky.

Showers on the southern side of the high are likely to affect the entire West Coast from time to time over the next 48 hours or so.

But one thing should be consistent in most places – and that will be light winds, although northerlies may pick up a little through Cook Strait and Wellington during Sunday.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says sunniest places should be eastern parts of Northland and Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupo, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury .

Cloudiest will be western parts of Northland, Auckland, Taranaki and the West Coast.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz