Labour weekend - a mixture of sunny, dry and wet weather

Labour weekend is here and the latest forecasts shows what many people probably expected - a mixture of sunny, dry, weather and some wet stuff thrown in there too...but the good news for holidaymakers is that there shouldn't be very much of the wet stuff. In fact while most places are unlikely to see 3 days of the same weather rainfall predictions aren't that high for most regions - so the weather looks drier rather than wetter this long weekend.

Another thing the three days will have in common is that it will warm up even further, especially overnight where some centres have been closer to freezing lately. A large high in the Tasman Sea should bring sunny, settled, weather to inland regions of both islands for Saturday and similar weather for eastern regions for both Saturday and Sunday.

However on Sunday a front is likely to start to approach from the west. Now this will mean increasing cloud cover over western regions and late showers are likely to develop by night time. A few spits of rain may spill over in to the South Island's east coast and in to Wellington too. I really don't think there'll be much rain for northern places like Coromandel Peninsula, the Bay of Islands and Auckland. This morning the latest weather data only shows a 30 per cent likelihood of rain in Auckland on Sunday and 20 per cent on Monday.

On Monday, Labour Day, many places will see a slightly more unsettled weather pattern as that front departs leaving a few showers in it's wake, but really the sun should come back quite quickly for most main holiday destinations.

Another positive for those going away is that no severe weather will impact the country this long weekend - so hopefully the brief period of rain or showers on Sunday night or Monday morning won't negatively affect too many of you.

Travel-wise conditions are looking good today for escaping the cities. Try and drive with your headlights on - even if it's sunny. Research shows driving with the headlights on during the day dramatically increases your visibility to other motorists...just remember to make sure they aren't on high beam.

Showers on Monday may make roads a little slippery for that trip home, so keep that in mind. Wind-wise I don't think conditions will be too noticeable over the nation so ferry and plane services are unlikely to see any delays.

All in all a pretty good weekend of weather for our first long weekend in nearly half a year - and with a little bit more warmth in the air it will feel more spring-like than the past few days have.

- Philip Duncan

Photo: Early morning sun reflects off the ocean at Karatane, Dunedin. Photo / Getty Images