Our shortest day is going to be a good one, but wet weather's on its way for a big chunk of the country on Sunday.
The winter solstice, the official start to the astronomical winter season, occurs in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and would be marked by a fairly typical winter's day, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris told the Herald.
"In the North Island, it'll be mainly fine. There's a westerly flow so it will be cloudy, but high cloud. There are only a few showers on western coasts."
It was an almost identical story in the South Island, with fine weather across much of the island, with just a bit of rain on the West Coast.
A low pressure system would spoil the settled weather for many on Sunday though, he said.
"Overnight the rain starts to affect the North Island. The low pressure passing over the North Island will bring rain to most places in the North Island."
Auckland Civil Defence this afternoon tweeted a reminder to residents to prepare for the change in weather by clearing gutters and tying down loose items outside.
Ferris said the weather system was "nothing too serious".
It's a mixed bag weather-wise this weekend. File photo / Michael Craig
"It's just going to be westerly winds and a bit of rain. It's not going to be stormy."
The top of the South Island would also see some rain on Sunday, but the rest of the island looked likely to escape the wet weather, he said.
"It'll just be cloudy elsewhere."
Daily highs would be average for the time of year — hovering around the low to mid-teens in the North Island and upper South Island, and around 8C to 10C in the mid and lower South Island.
And although wet weather was on the way for many on Sunday, sunshine would soon follow, Ferris said.
A big Australian high pressure system would arrive at the start of the working week, and then stick around.
"It's looking like settled weather this week."
That would also mean frosts, but in the usual places around the South Island and central and lower parts of the North Island.
Auckland had a light frost on Wednesday this week but was unlikely to see a repeat this week as overnight lows hovered around 5C, he said.
