Half rain, half shine for first week of school holidays

Suntrap, a sculpture by Neil Dawson in the Hastings CBD, pictured on a clear day yesterday. The week ahead offers a mixed weather bag for the country. Photo / Duncan Brown

The school holidays may have got off to a warm, sunny start for much of the country, but Metservice says it's set to be a mixed bag for the week ahead.

Temperatures in the high teens are predicted across the board today, including in Auckland, but duty forecaster Peter Little warns western areas will have to dodge one or two showers.

Overall though, Little says it's going to be a "fairly nice day", especially in contrast to the freezing drops in temperature overnight of -1.4C recorded at Christchurch Airport and -0.6C in Masterton.

Sunday is set to be fine in the North Island in particular, but it will start to get cloudy.

A front is also moving north on Monday, which will make for a rainy day for most, including in Auckland. Tuesday is likely to rainy in patches.

Gisborne and Hawke's Bay are the regions to be this week, where temperatures are expected to reach the early 20s.

The rest of the week looks set to be mostly fine, with the odd shower here and there, Little says.

Metservice is advising parents to be prepared by carrying rain coats when heading out or to plan activities around the rain radar on its website.