Northland's Christmas weather: Pack the sunblock

Christmas Day on a Northland beach could be just the place for Santa after a hectic Christmas Eve delivering presents, with the region expecting plenty of sun on December 25.

Northland's east coast beaches could be one of the best places to be on Christmas Day with fine weather, plenty of sun and a few clouds forecast for the region for the big day.

MetService meteorologist Andrew James said December 25, and its lead up, were looking like being fine for the whole of Northland, but particularly the east coast.

''Northland's east coast beaches could be one of the places to be on Christmas Day. There's nothing untoward [weather-wise] expected, so it should be a good day.''

James said between now and Wednesday the weather n Northland should be relatively fine also, with no rain forecast.

''We're not expecting any rain at all really, but [on Christmas Day] there could be a few isolated clouds, but not widespread cloud cover so there will be plenty of sun,'' he said.

''The temperatures should be in the 23C to 25C range [though the temperatures will be higher inland] and there will be a southwesterly front over Northland that should provide some shelter on the eastern side [of Northland] which will make those beaches great places to be.''

Overnight lows for the next week or so should be around the 15C mark.

It's too far out for an accurate forecast for New Year's Eve, but the forecast of no rain at Christmas will be a big relief for Northlanders, with rain on the big day fairly common.

Niwa figures show that, when it comes to Northland, Whangārei has had 10 wet Christmas Days in the past three decades, meaning a wet Christmas occurs, on average, once every three years. The wettest Christmas on record was in 1993 when 31.6mm of rain hit the city.

Kaitaia has had nine wet Christmas Days in the past 30 years, meaning a wet Christmas occurs, on average, once every 3.3 years. The wettest Christmas on record there was in 1979 when 45.8mm of rain fell.

The last year Whangārei and Kaitaia had a wet Christmas Day was in 2013, and the longest stretch where both centres did not have rain on Christmas Day was the four years from 2008-2011.

A day is deemed wet if more than 1mm of rain falls between 9am that day and 9am the next.