Fine weather set to brighten the country

Put away the board games, the weather is set to brighten for the rest of the school holidays this week.

Pesky showers that dampened activities at the start of the weekend won't be sticking around.

Rain that plagued much of the country last night is set to give way to a fine week for most of the country, MetService meteorologist Karl Loots said last night.

"The next major weather system coming will be towards the end of the week, until then it will be quite a settled period," he said.

A high pressure system is dominating across the North Island for much of the week which would bring mostly fine conditions with light winds and occasional showers.

The story was mostly the same for the South Island but the Fiordlands and Southland would see rain as a ridge built over that area on Tuesday night, spreading to central parts of the country by Wednesday.

Temperatures will peak between 18C and 20C for most of the North Island including holiday spots at the Coromandel, much of Northland, Taupo, and the Hawke's Bay.

Auckland and Hamilton would see similar highs while the capital, Wellington, will hover around a slightly chillier 16C and 17C for the first half of the week.

Further south, Queenstown will be mostly fine with some showers on Tuesday and highs of 14C until Wednesday, dropping to a chilly two degrees overnight tonight.

Christchurch and Nelson will be fine with some cloud, with highs of 18C during the day and dropping below 10C overnight.

The unsettled weather bringing showery west-southwest flows at this time of year is not uncommon for autumn.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) forecasts above-average temperatures in all regions through the autumn, as the warm ocean waters around the country are forecast to persist through the next three months.

"Even though seasonal-average temperatures are very likely to be above normal, frosts will occur in cooler locations as late autumn progresses," it said.