Severe Cyclone Victor continues to track towards New Zealand but all modelling shows it will fail to reach us directly. We have the very latest on the tracking - and of course what is happening here in New Zealand for the remainder of this week and the upcoming weekend.

: A narrow ‘vein of rain’ will spread across the North Island on Saturday – with showers and drizzle patches to the north and south of it. This front slides across the North Island with a few isolated heavy downpours – and clears overnight Saturday. West Coasters have a showery weekend – and a few spits may fall in dry Canterbury, but not much – with Sunday drier and cooler across many areas.

Daylight Savings kicks off this weekend, don’t forget to spring your clocks forward one hour before bed on Saturday night. As for the forecast, the wet easterly flow is easing but some patchy rain is about Hawkes Bay on Saturday, but easing. A few showers elsewhere, especially in the North Island interior with afternoon heating. The South Island may see a couple of showers, otherwise dry under high pressure in the south.

Weatherwatch weather analyst Philip Duncan gives a update on what to expect for the next few days.

The snow is easing in the South Island and freezing levels are now rising. Apart from another southerly on Sunday (a much smaller one) snow showers will mostly clear up this weekend. Meanwhile the same front that brought flooding to the West Coast will slowly move across the North Island on Saturday with isolated heavy falls. Next week a high dominates our weather – but we’ll be very closely watching a potential sub-tropical low around next Tuesday and Wednesday that may impact northern New Zealand.

Parts of the country were lashed by heavy rain, thunderstorms and flash floods yesterday wreaking havoc for Dunedin and areas of Auckland.

The explosive thunderstorms that hit the North Island yesterday should ease but heavy rain and plummeting temperatures are forecast for the rest of the week.

Aucklanders were battered by wild weather this evening as thunder and lightning hit the region.

Our last long weekend in almost half a year is approaching – and typically Queens Birthday Weekend in New Zealand looks a little unsettled – but by no means is it a write off. There are rain and shower risks – mostly in Northland and our western coastline. Here’s a look at the best forecasts out at the moment – and we’ll fine tune this again on Friday with the very latest for the long weekend.

Snow covers Wellington's Rimutaka Ranges. Snow fell overnight in Wairarapa down to 300m, with New Zealand Transport Agency teams working through the night to keep the Rimutaka Hill Rd open for commuters to Wellington this morning. The foothills near Masterton and Carterton on both sides received a dump, as did the Aorangi Ranges on the southern coast. Although the weather cleared across the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges, snow continued to fall on the eastern foothills during the morning, reaching up to 6cm near Gladstone and Admirals Hill.

We take a look at footage from the flooding in Wellington and the twister damage in Mt Maunganui overnight – and explain why it happened and where the severe weather is for Friday across the North Island, as conditions finally improve for parts of the South Island.

Today is the final day of cold sou’westers for many areas, with warmer, calmer weather moving back to many areas by the end of Friday and for the first weekend of May. The large high will cross NZ from late Friday to early Tuesday bringing mainly settled, dry, weather this weekend and a calm start to next week. Warm nor’westers return to many places early next week.

The Cricket World Cup semifinal is in Auckland today at Eden Park, and a night of rain has left many anxious about how today will pan out. We take a look at the latest forecast. We also take a long range nationwide look at the weather through until Sunday – a big low this weekend may bring in much needed rain to our driest regions.

Saturday March 21st is the equinox in New Zealand and that means summer has officially ended no matter how you dice it! However a high is rolling in for this weekend with warmer northerlies (after the cold end to the week for some). Rain moves up the South Island’s West Coast on Sunday and into some parts of the North Island by Monday, as a truly Autumnal pattern kicks in.

We take a special look at the very dry conditions around New Zealand and have a detailed focus at the incoming rain possibilities for the final week of Summer and the start of Autumn. While rain and showers are appearing more in the forecasts we still see a lot of dry weather coming in for March – but hope is on the horizon for some who need rain.

In our final video for 2014 we take a look at Christmas Day weather, Boxing Day, the final weekend of the year and a sneak peak at New Years Eve across the country. Also – the Live Santa Tracker is back for 2014!

Summer has arrived – although day one of December is certainly more like spring with southerlies and hail in the forecast. But the rest of the week warms up and dries out for most New Zealanders – but rain and some wind returns later in the week to southern and central areas. The first half of December is looking changeable – but much drier weather may start to set in across north eastern areas of the country.

Gale force winds battered Auckland in ferocious storm last night, littering city streets with trees and cutting power to tens of thousands.

Most years Auckland has a light frost or two but the frost on Wednesday morning was heavy for some suburbs. The frosts were widespread across the North Island but not so widespread in the South Island ahead of the next cold change for Wednesday night and Thursday morning. We also take a look at the long weekend forecast for Queens Birthday.

The final week of Autumn is going out with a bang as yet another storm in the Southern Ocean lines itself up with New Zealand this week. Unlike the weekend cold blast this one is weaker, but will bring a period of strong to gale force winds to southern and eastern areas of both islands – and late Wednesday and into Thursday a colder southerly heads north. Winter kicks off officially on Sunday – and the forecast looks mostly settled.

A big high is rolling in and despite a gentle southerly flow most places look mostly sunny and settled this weekend. Overnight lows in the North Island will be mostly, if not entirely, in the single digits with a few light frosts through the interior of both islands. A front in the Southern Ocean will lift up the westerlies and drive in some cloud later on Sunday across southern parts of the South Island, with windy weather and another cool change arriving on Monday.

Autumn isn’t just about wet and windy weather – the second half of the working week sees a few heavy showers around the North Island but as we head into the weekend a high from the Tasman Sea is also pushing in. Friday and Saturday look set to be most settled with Sunday also a fairly sunny and warm day in many areas – however the strong winds return to exposed areas south of Wellington on Sunday with rain clouds returning to the West Coast as a low in the Southern Ocean passes by.

This week the weather is traditionally autumnal – with a couple of weak cold fronts, plenty of sun, mild afternoons and cold mornings. High pressure, for the most part, dominates the North Island whereas slightly windier conditions over the South Island should lead to drier, warmer, weather for eastern areas – although another weak southerly change moves through this week. By the weekend a storm in the Southern Ocean will be brushing the lower South Island.

Weather conditions across the country this weekend look fairly settled, apart from a few showers in western and central New Zealand on Saturday. Sunday sees mostly sunny and mild conditions across the country but clouds will thicken later from the west as a front moves in. Monday and Tuesday look windier and wetter for many regions (wettest in the west and windiest in the east), then the weather may well calm down next week ahead of a Southern Ocean storm which might bring gales and cold air to the entire nation next weekend.

This week kicks off with another rain maker but by Wednesday most of New Zealand will be dry as high pressure moves in. The next rain maker is lining up in the Tasman Sea for either the end of the weekend of the start of next week, and may well be a fairly typical Autumn low with warm, windy, weather in front and a change to colder, squally, showers behind. We have the latest on how it’s shaping up.

Widespread flooding, heavy rainfall and gale force winds caused road closures, power outages and slips around New Zealand on April 17 and 18. The rough conditions have been fuelled by ex-Cyclone Ita with the tail end of the tropical storm hitting the islands overnight on April 17. The winds blew down a large tree in Nelson, on the north tip of the South Island, which was captured on camera by YouTube/Derek Sivers.

Weather conditions continue to deteriorate in the Nelson Area with gale force winds & torrential rains sweeping over.

Ugly weather is continuing to crash into the country. The atrocious conditions are being fuelled by ex-cyclone Ita, which is battering Northland and Auckland as it sweeps down the country.

Flooding has forced transport officials to close Tamaki Drive in east Auckland as gales and torrential rain batter the upper North Island.