Unsettled week, rainfall vague

The consistent sunny warmth of summer is giving way to a period of more unsettled weather in central and southern areas, but it’s unclear how much rain that will mean in the coming week for the driest parts of the country.

The north and east of the North Island are more likely to get warm dry weather during the week, although the chance of showers is not being ruled out, particularly south of Auckland.

Latest information on Niwa’s drought monitor yesterday showed much of the top of the South Island in severe drought, although the east is not as badly affected.

There was some rain on Friday and Saturday but significant irrigation restrictions remain in place, particularly in the Tasman district.

‘‘That rain certainly did help, but because much of the South Island is in meteorological severe drought, certainly the drought isn’t over with,’’ Niwa principal scientist – forecasting Chris Brandolino said.

The MetService is predicting occasional rain or showers each day from today for Nelson, with a chance of more significant rain on Sunday.

The wind would be quite westerly, so the western ranges and west coast were set to have quite a rainy week, MetService meteorologist McInnes said. ‘‘For example, if you’re in the Kahurangi National Park, it’s set to be a fairly wet and soggy week.

So for central areas, the week was unstable in the sense a lot was going on, but it was hard to say how much rain there would be.’’ Further south a couple of fronts would be barrelling up the country, which would mean rain for the West Coast.

It would be drier on the east of the South Island but warm and windier across the Canterbury Plains, which was typical with northwest winds. ‘‘It’s a very New Zealand weather week.’’

It was also a bit tricky to forecast how much rain Wellington would get, with most probably falling a bit more to the north toward the Tararua Range.