Remember, remember the fifth of November... many people will be wondering what the weather will be like for Guy Fawkes fireworks tonight. For most people, the answer is dry, with not much wind!
"The weather tonight is looking mainly fine, though there will be some cloud in the west and south of the South Island, and also the east of the North Island," said MetService Meteorologist Claire Flynn. "The exceptions to this are the Gisborne and Wairoa regions - rain or showers are expected to continue there into this evening."
Gisborne and Wairoa experienced some heavy rain yesterday. In the 24 hours to 10am this morning, up to 175 mm of rain was recorded around Gisborne city. Strong winds were also recorded, with gusts up to 76 km/hr in the city.
"Fortunately, this rain has eased and is not expected to become heavy again," Flynn said. "However, these areas can expect a few showers to linger about until Saturday morning."
For the rest of the country, Friday is looking to be a generally fine day,apart from a few areas of cloud during the morning and evening. For those planning on delaying their fireworks until the weekend, this pattern is expected to persist in the North Island. In particular, the weather is looking good for the Wellington Sky Show on Saturday - and if you can't make it down to the harbour, you can watch via a live stream on the MetService website:
about.metservice.com/our-company/wellington-sky-show
In the South Island, the weekend starts off dry in most areas. However,patchy rain or drizzle is expected to develop later in the day on Saturday for the West Coast, and also Otago and Southland as a weak front arrives. This patchy rain should continue into Sunday, and a few spots of rain may move into Canterbury as the front moves northwards.
The front is expected to move across the North Island on Monday, bringing a few showers to some regions. Meanwhile, showers are expected to clear from many places further south.
Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice and @MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com