New Year’s Eve weather: Northland, Wānaka, Auckland all set for rain, warm final day of 2023

New Years Eve revellers are being warned to bring a raincoat as downpours are forecast to set in for western and northern parts of both islands.

MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam told the Herald a trough bringing rain was spreading over the country from the Tasman Sea, but most of the bad weather should have passed by midnight.

“Then we are clearing sort of, so for the early part of the New Year that’s followed by some quite nice settled days for the first three or so days of 2024.”

However, it’s bad news for those hoping for respite from a rainy Christmas - the lead-up to the new year is looking wet for many parts of Aotearoa.

In Northland, Bellam said it’s going to be warm, wet and windy, with showers becoming more frequent in the evening of New Year’s Eve.

He said Auckland and Tauranga were a similar story, both suffering the same rainy conditions and potentially reaching highs of 25C.

“If we look past that it’s all sun symbols for them, so that’s the good news as we go into that New Year period. Starting the year off on a sunny note across the country.”

🥳#NewYearsEve: A cold front moves up #NZ, some places may be a bit cooler behind the front. #Queenstown's max temperature this Sunday is +13c, the low is +7c. #Napier on the other hand has +28 & and low of +19c.

🥱#NewYearsDay: High pressure, drier weather, across #NZ. pic.twitter.com/nZwdOzuGdl

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) December 26, 2023

While there were a few showers forecast for Gisborne, he said it won’t be as wet as other places and may reach 28C.

Bellam told the Herald those attending RNV should still bring a raincoat, but he wasn’t sure if the festivalgoers would be “that well-prepared”.

Nelson again could be in for rain, but he said right now it was looking likely to clear later in the day.

Blenheim is set to receive showers into the evening but, again, he said the area would be waking up to fine weather and temperatures into the mid-20s on New Year’s Day.

Further south in Wānaka he said there could be a high of 20C and showers would be clearing.