Early start to Summer: fine weather this week

Sunny weather and high temperatures are expected across the country this week. Photo / Alan Gibson

Summer appears to have arrived early and is making itself comfortable, with sunny weather forecast across the country this week.

Tuesday will dawn with some morning cloud in Auckland clearing to fine weather and 23C, with isolated showers in the afternoon, MetService meteorologist Claire Nickson said.

The sunshine continues in Wellington, where a cooler 19C is expected, with northerly winds strengthening.

The South Island is in for a stunning day of sunshine tomorrow, with temperatures expected to hit 27C in Christchurch, 28C in Blenheim, and the rest of the Island seeing temperatures in mid-to-high-20s tomorrow.

A week of 🏝️.

With our test ensemble modelling (model is run 18 times at once), we can better understand outcomes. Here we examine the chances for max temps to exceed 25˚C.

Summer-like weather this week will contribute to a likely top 5⃣ warmest November all-time for NZ. pic.twitter.com/iNCiR0LUfa

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) November 24, 2019

The sunny weather comes courtesy of a ridge of high pressure edging its way north, strengthening northwesterly winds.

Wednesday will bring a "brief" change of weather, as front moves up the South Island, bringing rain to the West Coast of the South Island, Nickson said.

"The general pattern is settled weather but there's this brief weather system moving across the country pretty quickly mid-week which will bring some rain to western parts of the South Island and also the far South."

Auckland will see some cloud on Wednesday and a few showers on Thursday, with a slight dip in temperature down to 22C.

Wellington will have strong northerlies on Thursday, following mostly fine weather on Wednesday.

Christchurch won't see any of the rain forecast to hit the West Coast, with temperatures expected to be above 25C on Wednesday and Thursday.

In the South Pacific, the first cyclone of the season has already been upgraded to a Category two system, and is sitting north of Vanuatu as of the most recent update, Nickson said.

A belt of high pressure is expected to keep the cyclone north of New Zealand.

Rita is the first Tropical Cyclone for the season. Fiji Met Service named Rita overnight as Cat 1, expected to become Cat 2 later. Rita is not expected to come anywhere near NZ, but is still a significant system in a populated part of the Pacific. https://t.co/7wKJumwhyP ^TA pic.twitter.com/PmEWRsdXhi

— MetService (@MetService) November 24, 2019