Northland's Christmas Weekend weather - the region is one of best places to be

Santa may be spending Christmas Day on a beach in Northland, with the region predicted to have some of the best weather this long weekend.

Northland's beaches are expected to be packed this Christmas weekend, with the MetService saying the region will have some of the best Christmas weather in the country.

MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said Northland will get increasingly humid this week, with rain likely for today and Thursday, before things clear up on Christmas Day - Friday.

And Saturday and Sunday are expected to be even better.

Adams said Northland would definitely be one of the best places to be this long Christmas weekend, with the temperature hitting as high as 27C in some places.

He said Cyclone Yasa, a former category 5 system that devastated parts of Fiji and killed four people, has now been downgraded to an ex-tropical cyclone as it moves south of Tonga and will not have any impact on the weather here.

At one stage it looked to be tracking for a direct hit over the North Island but, thanks to a mighty ridge of high pressure this week, the system has weakened substantially and any remnants are looking to track southeast of the country.

Instead, two low-pressure systems are forecast to arrive in the coming days from across the Tasman Sea which will bring rain to much of the country, with showers, possibly getting heavy, in parts of Northland today.

Then there'll be clouds tomorrow and Thursday, which will bring extra humidity, making night times sticky, before more rain on Thursday - Christmas Eve.

Adams said overnight lows until Friday morning will hover between 17degC and 19degC while daily highs will be 23degC - 25degC.

However, he said, Christmas Day will see the clouds largely disappear as the day progresses and generally fine weather after that. There's unlikely to be any rain on the big day, meaning Northland's beaches are likely to attract plenty of people wanting to cool down in the water.

The change will also reduce the humidity to comfortable levels, making the Christmas Day experience even better in the region.

Niwa figures show 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.

''At this stage it looks like the best places to be in the country on Christmas Day will be Nelson, Gisborne and Bay of Plenty, with Northland not far behind,'' Adams said.

Then Saturday - Boxing Day - and Sunday should be free of any clouds or rain and bring people flocking to Northland's beaches and public spaces with a high of 27C possible.

Boxing Day is traditionally when an exodus of Aucklanders heads north and with international travel banned due to the global Covid 19 pandemic, even more visitors than normal are expected.