New Zealand is set for clear skies and frosty nights across the next few days, with the North Island likely to enjoy pleasant and dry conditions for the entire week.
Weather Watch says an anticyclone hovering directly above the country on Monday will bring frosts, light winds and some gloomy low clouds.
"This week starts off with cold nights and calm weather and ends with milder days and nights, West Coast rain clouds and a mild end to July and start to August," the forecaster said.
"The clear skies and light winds along with the long dark nights help make for frosts - especially through inland parts of the South Island.
"But the milder flow will start to lift the South Island up overnight tonight, while the North Island remains cooler than average in a number of spots."
NIWA Weather forecasts "pleasant weather" nationwide on Monday, which will stick around in most regions as the week progresses.
"if you're a North Islander, it's looking like a mostly pleasant and dry week ahead."
By mid-week, the anticyclone bringing the light winds and cold nights drifts to the east of New Zealand, allowing subtropical winds into the country.
NIWA says these will bring "warmer than average temperatures".
"Low pressure near eastern Australia will direct northerly winds out of the subtropics and toward New Zealand. Temperatures in the eastern South Island will be boosted even more by Föhn winds off the Southern Alps."
Föhn winds are hot southerlies that travel downward off the slope of a mountain range.
By the weekend, the country will sit between "two powerful highs", Weather Watch says, while a small low in the north may pull rain down into parts of the North Island.
