Most of the country appears to have been blessed with sunshine for the last few days, but how long will it last?
And is there any relief in sight for those who are struggling in the dry conditions?
Eventually there will be, but it won't be from the low currently drenching parts of Australia, says Daniel Corbett from the MetService.
"All that tropical moisture from what was Cyclone Oswald, all of that has been moving across New South Wales, and because we have this big block in place over New Zealand, that's going to have to take the long route," Mr Corbett told Firstline this morning.
"Instead of going from west to east over New Zealand like they normally would, it's actually going to skate down south away from New Zealand. We will eventually get some moisture from the trough that will come in after that, but that lump of moisture, unfortunately for those looking for the rain, will be skirting down to the south."
The primary benefactor of the high sitting over New Zealand has been Wellington, which is into its fifth consecutive day of fine weather.
"Wellington, whenever you see the forecast and you see a nice sun symbol – nice day, light winds – people say, 'This is great, let's enjoy it.' But if you get three, four, we're now running into the fifth day of light winds, sunshine in Wellington, we're all just saying, 'Well, this is wonderful!' because of the area of high pressure.
"It is just a charmed life, so to speak."
Mr Corbett says the high is "stuck", because the "upper level winds are just sitting, and they're cut off from the normal flow".
It is likely to stay in tact until the weekend.
"As with every weather system, eventually [it will] move along… [it] will slowly break down as you go towards the end of the week. Into the weekend, we will start seeing the changes… we will start to see a bit more cloud come into the far north and the far southwest, and by early next week we'll all look at the five-day forecast or the 10-day forecast and see rain.
"For those that need the rain, it will be some good news."
3 News
source: newshub archive
