It was a fine start to the week across much of New Zealand with plenty of blue sky and sunshine as the last of the weekend’s wild weather cleared the far north of the country.

While this week has a relatively dry theme, it will be one to hold onto your hats as MetService predicts strong winds to feature prominently in the forecast around midweek.

Sandwiched between high pressure over the Tasman Sea and an area of low pressure to the southeast Aotearoa finds itself embedded in a brisk southwesterly airflow.

While the strongest winds are expected around the coasts it will be a blustery few days for Northland and Auckland on the North Island and Southland and Otago on the South Island. 

“With air quickly moving up from the southwest, areas exposed to the south and west will be in for some windy weather this week. For most people, the windiest day will be Tuesday before things settle down again later in the week,” says MetService meteorologist John Law.

With winds moving up from the south, New Zealand is once again set to experience a few cooler days through the middle of the week with a few showers thrown in the mix.

Temperatures in Christchurch are forecast to only reach 16°C on Tuesday while even up in Dargaville the thermometer is set to peak at a cool 17°C.  

A few wintery feeling showers over Central Otago could bring a fresh dusting of snow to the highest peaks of the region.

The good news, by the end of the week the cool winds should have eased for most and temperatures are forecast to rise back into the twenties, with spots in the east like Hastings and Ashburton forecast to reach 28°C on Friday

. This rise in temperature is aided by warm, northwest winds flowing across the country while a band of rain moves up the west coast of the South Island.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper remains an active system over the Coral Sea and is continuing to move westwards towards the Queensland coast of Australia.

Check the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for the latest Severe Weather Information regarding this system.