Cold southerlies continue on for a couple more days across NZ but a change to westerlies starts on Friday and strengthens through the weekend with the chance of severe gales in some locations (in both main islands).

The windy westerlies will bring sunnier, drier and warmer weather to eastern NZ for a time, but the polar boundary returns to the South Island this weekend after briefly leaving – meaning it will be colder again in the South Island (and maybe the lower North Island for a time).

High pressure will be north of NZ this weekend – this will limit how far north both the rain and cold go.

We have your NZ forecast out to Monday of next week.