Covering period of Thursday 24 - Sunday 27 April

Most of the country is in for a dry but cool ANZAC Day dawn service with MetService forecasts looking more favourable for outdoors activities around the South Island while warm, humid air brings rain in from the Far North over the weekend.

Cloudier skies and spells of rain are expected for Northland on ANZAC day, however, temperatures for the Dawn Service are likely to hold around the mid-teens. Working our way down the country, hugging the eastern coast of the North Island is where a risk of passing showers exist for Dawn Services so bring a raincoat. Moving away from those areas it will be chilly temperatures that people need to prepare for with 2°C forecast for Taupō, Masterton and Alexandra.

Through the rest of Friday the risk of rain drifts southward and by midday Saturday rain looks likely for areas north of Taupō. The wet weather is linked to an area of warm, humid air so the potential for heavy falls will accompany the rain.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris states, “One area of concern this weekend will be Northland and Auckland, which may see another wet weekend. There is a lot of uncertainty around this weather system and how much rain it may bring so it’s advised to keep up with the latest forecasts.”

This rain may mean a wet pitch but will hopefully not dampen the Auckland FC supporter’s mood for the match on Sunday evening.

South of Taupō, areas of the North Island look to stay dry until the second half of Saturday but by keeping up with the latest forecasts you may still find a time to get out and about without rain on Sunday too.

Generally, the South Island is where the weather is most settled this weekend. After a run of quite gloomy days in Christchurch, where our airport station only detected 7.8 hours of sunshine over 10 days (between Monday 14 and Wednesday 23), they can look forward to a few sunny afternoons for the long weekend with temperatures even climbing into the 20s on Sunday. Match conditions look great for the Warriors game on Friday evening, wrap up warm though as the temperature will plummet once the sun goes down.

Some showers will be sprinkled down the West Coast, maybe a little more widespread on Sunday. People heading out into the hills around Nelson and Tasman will need to keep an eye on the forecast as there’s the possibility of rain setting in on Saturday.

“While some areas will need to keep the raincoats on hand, many parts of the country can look forward to some moments of sunshine. Make sure to keep up with the latest MetService forecast over the long weekend,” Lewis concludes.

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