16 Mar 2017

NZ basking in sunshine after diabolical days

10:57 am on 16 March 2017

There are blue skies above much of country bringing welcome relief after the pummeling rain of recent weeks.

The view of Auckland Harbour this morning.

The view of Auckland Harbour this morning. Photo: Twitter / @Metservice

Record heavy rain caused flash floods in west Auckland on the weekend, with slips and floods in other parts of the North Island, including Wellington.

That followed a one-in-a -100 year storm earlier last week that caused major flooding and cut power in Auckland, Coromandel and Northland.

WeatherWatch said a large high now covers most of New Zealand today with temperatures in the early 20s for much of the country.

MetService said Auckland was expected to get to 23°C and stay warm and mostly sunny for the rest of the week and the weekend.

The same goes for much of Northland, although there was some chance of clouds and showers in Kerikeri.

Coromandel can expect sun, with some isolated showers, until the middle of next week but there will be southerly breezes putting a bit of a chill on things.

MetService said the capital could reach 21° today although the temperature is predicted to drop over the weekend with showers possible on Saturday and with them southerly breezes.

The weather looks promising all weekend for the Womad music festival in New Plymouth with sunshine and 23° temperatures expected.

Christchurch has blue skies this morning, and could hit 28° tomorrow but the forecast for the weekend and next week is a bit more patchy, with showers and clouds expected.

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