With the weekend in sight, the clouds will part, and the skies will brighten up for many regions. A line of showers, however, will be arriving in the upper North Island. This will be something to keep a close eye on for those attending weekend sports or hoping to head into the outdoors.

MetService have indicated a risk of heavy rainfall for the Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty over the weekend. Showers are also expected to spill into neighbouring regions including Auckland, Northland and Waikato.

Further south, the story is brighter. The cloud over Canterbury is set to clear on Friday and the showers about Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa will begin to ease on Saturday. This will lead to fine and frosty conditions.

MetService meteorologist Michael Pawley details “The freezing southerly that we’re experiencing lightens up a bit, which will take the bite out of those daytime temperatures. In places with clear skies overhead, the temperature will still plunge overnight, allowing frost to settle.”

“I’d say the place to be is on a ski field in the South Island. They’ve had a bit of a dusting of snow recently and there are some bluebird skies instore” recommends Michael.

Looking into next week, the area of high pressure moves away to the east around midweek, and MetService will be keeping an eye on developments to the southwest of the country. From Wednesday we’re looking at possible heavy rain for the West Coast and strong northwest winds across the South Island.