As this first week of 2012 starts to wind down, so do many holidays.  Will the weather cooperate with your plans?  Let’s take a look…

North Island-

North half-  A few scattered showers will dot the north half of the island tomorrow morning.  As we get further into the mid to late afternoon, rain is expected to become more widespread from Northland, through Auckland and southeast through Hamilton and Rotorua.  The Coromandel Peninsula will see some of this more widespread rain too, but probably not until after sunset.  Dry weather moves in for Thursday and should stick around until midday Saturday.

South half-  Dry weather is expected for Wellington and Palmerston North for much of tomorrow.  Some scattered showers may move over Hawkes Bay during the afternoon but should clear out by evening.  Like the northern half, dry weather settles in on Thursday and stays through the early part of Saturday.

Late Saturday and early Sunday could be a soggy period for the most of the North Island.

South Island-

North half-   Dry weather is expected to be settling in by early tomorrow morning.  That means a beautiful Wednesday is expected for Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast and Canterbury.  Rain is expected to begin to move up the west coast on Thursday, arriving in the Greymouth area in the early afternoon.  The West Coast and Tasman may continue to see rain, or at least a strong threat of rain, through Saturday.  Canterbury and Marlborough should remain settled until Saturday when that rain starts to spread east.

South half-  A few showers may dot Otago on Wednesday, especially in the afternoon.  More widespread rain begins to move into the Fjordland National Park early on Wednesday.  The rain is expected to last through Thursday.  Drier weather should settle into Southland and Otago on Friday.  Unsettled weather returns on Saturday with rain chances lasting until early Sunday.

Temperatures across the country are going to tend to be a bit cooler than normal through the middle and end of this week.  A few areas may see a significant warm up, however.  Places like Waipawa and Hamilton could see highs close to 30 on Saturday.