Less than 20mm of rain forecast for most places in Northland

Parched Northland is in for some rain this Saturday but only for a few hours. Photo / Supplied

More than just a spit of rain is in store across Northland tomorrow but weather forecasters reiterate the rain will be relatively short-lived.

Between 10mm and 20mm of rain is forecast across Northland for just a few hours on Saturday before the skies clear up later that day.

MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said isolated showers were expected especially on Northland's east coast from Sunday until Tuesday with slightly cooler temperatures.

"It will rain for a few hours and could possibly be briefly heavy but nothing to get excited about. Expect drier and cooler air from Sunday."

Wind will change from the current northerlies to cooler southwesterlies from late Saturday.

Glassey said a front in the Tasman Sea would move to the South Island today, causing heavy rain along the West Coast there, before moving to the North Island on Saturday.

Day temperatures in Whangārei will hover around 29C today, dropping down to 27C tomorrow, and 24C on Sunday.

Kerikeri, Kaitaia, and Dargaville will experience similar temperatures over those days.

Whangārei is the driest of all major centres in Northland, with just 0.2mm of rain falling since January 19. But with 1mm needed to be recorded to classify as a rainy day, this means Whangārei has not had any rainy days for 36 consecutive days.

The longest dry period in Whangārei was 42 days, between December 5, 1990, and January 15, 1991.