MetService is eyeing a ridge of high pressure which will bring settled, fine weather up the east of the South Island at the start of the weekend before the ridge heads off to the east on Sunday.

MetService Meteorologist Andy Best comments, “This should be a good opportunity for budding astronomers to see Mars at its best, as currently it is the closest it will be for the next 15 years. It can be seen after sunset and through the night until end of November in the eastern sky.”

Clear skies over much of the east of the country over the weekend will likely bring a few frosts around from Masterton to Southland both Friday and Saturday mornings.

Much of New Zealand can look forward to settled weather on Saturday and Sunday, thanks to the north to northeast flow. However, a couple of fronts are forecast to approach the west of the South Island on Saturday bringing rain late in the day from Buller to Fiordland. The rain in the west of the South Island increases on Sunday with possible heavy falls and strengthening northerlies.

With the Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington on Sunday, expect mostly cloudy but dry conditions for the game, with temperatures in the low teens. However, spectators should be prepared for the wind chill factor, due to increasing northerly winds and dress appropriately for the match.

Warm northeasterlies dominate the east of the South Island on Sunday, with Christchurch, Timaru and Dunedin all expected to reach 20 degrees, which is around 5 degrees above average for October.

As we look to the start of the working week, the fronts move onto the North Island on Monday, bringing rain to the west and for Wellington, but the rain arrives late in the day across Auckland and Northland. There will be just increasing cloud elsewhere in the North Island. The South Island sees rain easing to showers in the west, while mostly fine conditions prevail in the east. Northerly winds prevail over the North Island on Monday with light winds farther south.