Final curtain call for north's long summer

Sisters Georgia Drew, 14, and (right) Annabelle Drew, 12, enjoyed the warm sea at Orewa beach yesterday. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Annie Drew and her girls enjoyed a late season splash at the beach yesterday as the North Island's seemingly never-ending summer pushed on through Anzac Day.

But weather forecasters predict the public holiday may herald a turn in the season, with a mid-sized dose of autumn rain booked in for this week in the drought-baked upper North Island.

Mrs Drew, of Silverdale, took her daughters and a friend to Orewa Beach where they played volleyball.

"A couple of them dived in and had a swim."

But Mrs Drew ventured no deeper than ankle-deep in the water, which she said was "lovely - quite warm."

She said the beach was busy.

"I did a head-count - 150 people walking or playing, swimming, that sort of thing. It was Anzac Day, so everybody got out and about and did family things."

Anzac Day can often serve up cold or stormy weather but yesterday people in Auckland, Tauranga and many other areas basked in a mostly sunny day. The City of Sails reached a pleasant 21C and had little wind.

But MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said the fairly typical pattern for this time of year of high-pressure systems drifting across the country was about to turn to a series of fronts marching in from the Tasman Sea.

"It looks like, for the coming week, the Tasman will be full of fronts.

"One might even stall on the North Island in the middle of the week. A change of pattern is upon us.

"Rain is in the forecast for Auckland and Northland, places that haven't seen much rain at all in April, March or even February.

"Maybe 10mm [will fall] out of this front in the middle of the week - not tremendously much."

Waikato and other areas could expect rain from Tuesday, possibly through to Thursday, as the front stalled from Northland to East Cape.

Up to last Thursday, Auckland had received just 89.2mm of rain this year, in contrast to an average of 286mm for that period. Whangarei had received 129mm; its average is 388mm.

The Government, which was already offering drought relief to farmers in much of the upper North Island, last week extended its drought assistance to the Bay of Plenty, South Taranaki and parts of South Canterbury and Otago.

Niwa predicts near-normal rainfall for the upper North Island to the end of June, but the level of moisture in soil is expected to remain below normal.