Easter forecast best in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay

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Gisborne and the Hawkes Bay are the places to be this long Easter weekend, MetService forecasts.

A cold front is expected to move slowly up the country, bringing rain to the South Island throughout the weekend, before weakening as it reaches the North Island.

The North Island will get increasingly cloudy as the weekend progresses with rain forecast to arrive late Saturday for the lower North Island.

The rain should arrive at Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty late Sunday, MetService forecaster Geoff Sanders said.

Mr Sanders said the east of the North Island could have long, reasonably fine spells this weekend, with highs in the low 20s expected.

"Gisborne and Hawkes Bay are the places to be this Easter Weekend," he said.

WeatherWatch.co.nz head weather analyst Philip Duncan said the cold front may get caught up in a developing sub-tropical low as it reaches the upper North Island on Easter Sunday.

"It's a very changeable forecast and has been for the past week, which is fairly typical for this time of the year," Mr Duncan said.

"After watching the models for over a week now there still remains some uncertainty has to how much rain will fall and how long it will last, but the basic rule of thumb is that Friday looks good for most places, Saturday wet in the South Island, dry in the North Island, then Sunday and Monday look fairly wet in the north but improving in the south."