Morning cloud and showers for Christmas morning - but the sun will comes out later

A cloudy morning will make way for sun in most parts of the country today, with showers in store for parts of the west coast on both islands. Photo / 123rf

What will start out as a cloudy morning for most of the country should clear as the Christmas day wears on, but the odd shower is in store too.

This morning there was "quite a bit of cloud" on the west side of both islands, said MetService meteorologist Claire Flynn.

"Those areas that are cloudy the cloud will break up, it might not disappear completely but they will see sun peeking through."

There would be a few showers around but nothing much in terms of rain, Flynn said.

"Nowhere's looking particularly bad, we don't have any big fronts bringing a lot of rain to anywhere," Flynn said.

Greymouth, Wellington and the western area from Taranaki to Northland would all be getting "a few little showers' throughout the day clearing as it wore on.

"They will stick around Northland and Auckland a little longer - mostly in the west and really light anyway."

In Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, and the Bay of Plenty the day was sunny already and expected to stay sunny for the rest of the day.

Tauranga and Whakatane were expected to be the warmest spots in the North Island, hitting 24C and 25C respectively.

Wanaka was also looking at similar temperatures, Flynn said.

For most other spots the high would be in the late teens or early twenties.

"Nelson's looking pretty nice at the moment as well, and is expected to stay pretty sunny all day."

Today's forecast

Whangarei: Long fine spells. Southwesterlies. High 22C Low 15C

Auckland: Fine and cloudy periods, chance of a light shower. Southwesterly. High 21C Low 15C

Hamilton: Morning cloud, chance of shower, then mainly fine. Southwesterly. High 21C Low 9C

Tauranga: Some morning cloud, otherwise fine. Southwesterlies.High 24C Low 13C

New Plymouth: Morning cloud, chance of shower, then mainly fine. Southwesterly. High 19C Low 9C

Napier: Fine. Cloud increasing afternoon. Light winds. High 22C 14C

Wellington: Cloudy periods, early drizzle. Light southerly change. High 18C 11C

Nelson: Fine. Light winds, afternoon sea breezes. High 21C Low 13C

Christchurch: Cloudy periods, chance of light morning shower. Southerly develops. High 17C Low 10C

Wanaka: Fine, apart from some morning cloud. Light winds. High 25C Low 10C

Dunedin: Cloudy periods. Southwesterlies. High 17C Low 9C