A ridge of high pressure sits over the upper North Island, while the rest of the country is covered in a northwesterly airflow – sometimes strong for much of the South Island and lower North Island.

This means it’s mainly sunny weather for much of the North Island, becoming hot in the east in places.

The South Island is fairly cloudy in the west – with some more rain for Fiordland, and the odd shower further north through to about Greymouth.
It’s hot in the east of the island again, but there will still be plenty of high cloud, and winds gusting from the northwest – especially in the east.

– Aaron Wilkinson & Drew Chappell, WeatherWatch.co.nz