Four fine days before wet weekend

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An autumnal anticyclone moving over the country means mist and fog but dry days for New Zealand, weather forecasters say.

The next four days should be dry for most of the country, however the forecast for the weekend is not good, says MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt.

"It should be dry during the day until Thursday when the next front of rain will hit the South Island."

He said autumnal cyclones were high-pressure systems which brought typical autumn weather of light winds and misty mornings.

"Autumnal anticyclones bring their own problems. Sometimes you get a sprinkle of drizzle, particularly in the night and in the morning. I think with this one there might be some areas of fog, inland, in the Waikato especially."

He said today and Thursday were most likely to be foggy in the mornings, which might mean Hamilton airport would be closed for a few hours.

Longer nights, colder ground overnight and light winds made fog, he said. "But I think it'll be cloudy around Auckland, so we probably won't get so much of that overnight cooling."

Mr McDavitt said temperatures for Auckland should sit around 20C during the day with overnight lows around 11C.

Weather Watch chief analyst Philip Duncan said next weekend would be very wet for most of the country.