Patchy rain is falling across a number of North Island regions this evening, and the upper South Island, but heavy rain has cleared the West Coast where this afternoon three rain warnings were uplifted.

As of 5pm a total of seven warnings remained in place across the country.

A low is developing north of Northland while a high to the east will slow its movement down.  

Click here to read more details as to why the rain warnings have been issued and what this weekend’s weather has in common with last weekend’s sunny conditions.

Warm weather has spread over the South Island’s east coast with many places reaching over 20 degrees today – the national high of 23 was recorded in Dunedin and Ashburton.  As of 5pm Oamaru and Timaru were still over 20 degrees.

See all of today’s Highest temperatures here.

But humid, warm, conditions are expected to affect northern New Zealand for the next two nights.  Overnight lows in Auckland are predicted to only drop to around 14 degrees for many suburbs.

Click here to read all current rain warnings.