“It’s looking like a lot of patchy cloud in the morning,” he said, noting the “prime spots” were around parts of Otago and Canterbury.
The weather system is expected to bring showers, particularly to Northland, Auckland, and the West Coast of the South Island, spreading elsewhere in the evening.
Eastern regions and places such as northern Canterbury and Wellington might get some fine breaks in the afternoon on Christmas Day.
The weather over the whole country was expected to start becoming more settled moving towards next weekend and New Year’s Eve.
As for temperatures over the next week, some areas, such as Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, could expect Christmas to be “quite warm”, and Auckland could expect it to be “reasonably warm and muggy” once the showers eased.
The South Island is unlikely to be particularly hot or humid.
For Boxing Day, Lynden warned many parts of the country could expect some “reasonable showers”.
“It’s unfortunate for people going out and wanting to buy things,” he said.
Today’s temperatures:
Auckland: High 25C, low 17C
Tauranga: High 23C, low 16C
Wellington: High 20C, low 15-16C
Christchurch: High 26C, low 13C
Dunedin: High 20C, low 14C
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
