“It has been an up-and-down weekend with narrow ridges (highs) and troughs (lows) passing over the country,” said MetService Forecaster Tuporo Marsters.

Weather systems have now slowed down, with a slim ridge of high pressure parked over central New Zealand and set to linger there for the next day or so.

“This ridge will bring mostly settled weather over the next few days, and it’s looking dry for the rugby in Wellington on Tuesday evening with a light southerly and 8 degrees,” he added.

A ridge of high pressure at this time of the year also spells a cold start to the day. Severe frosts last night dropped temperatures to well below zero, with -7 at Tekapo, Pukaki and Mt Cook airports both at -6 degrees, and Timaru and Dunedin airports with -5.

The cold mornings shift to the North Island tomorrow, with forecast temperatures of zero for Hamilton and a chilly 4 degrees for Auckland. Even though we’re now into winter, that’s still cold for the upper North Island for this time of year and likely to result in ground frosts for sheltered, inland spots.

While settled weather rules in the main, not everywhere is dry. The slow-moving systems have caused a trough of low pressure to linger over the northeast of the North Island today, bringing heavy showers to parts of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.

Things go into slow mode over the Tasman Sea as well, as an approaching trough loses its energy there but still manages to bring some rain to the west of the South Island before weakening late Tuesday.

Looking ahead to the weekend, models have a low crossing the country bringing unsettled weather to many places. We’ll keep you posted on how things pan out

© Scoop Media