The Easter weekend was marked by severe weather across many parts of New Zealand, with record-breaking temperatures, but this week is looking calmer and cooler.

Cyclone Tam, the remains of a tropical weather system, arrived on our shores last Thursday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain across the top of the country, resulting in power outages through Northland, MetService said in a statement.

Even the sheltered urban centre Whangārei was buffeted with gusts up to 96km/h and exposed places recorded gusts well over 100km/h.

Tam remained close to New Zealand throughout the long weekend, keeping a feed of warm but unsettled conditions across the country.

Intense thunderstorms moved across Auckland overnight Friday and during Saturday, bringing large volumes of rainfall.

More than 1000 lightning strikes were recorded in the upper North Island and Mt Roskill recorded 81mm of rain within an hour.

The top of the South Island was also impacted by Cyclone Tam, with flooding in parts of Buller on Sunday.

“The slow-moving nature of Cyclone Tam meant that the impacts from this system remained with us throughout the Easter Weekend,” said MetService meteorologist Michael Pawley.

“From severe thunderstorms to record-breaking temperatures, this has been a challenging weekend of weather for many parts of New Zealand.”

April maximum temperature records were broken in Whanganui and Palmerston North.

Levin reached a sweltering 28.7°C, smashing the record of 25.7°C set in April of 1999.

This week brings a change in the weather, with Cyclone Tam giving way to a period of more settled conditions as high pressure builds across the country.

As the winds swing from the warm north to the cool south, temperatures across the country will be dropping.

For those attending dawn services for Anzac Day on Friday, the forecast is generally one of dry but cold weather.

“Time to bring out the woollen jumper again! It will be a cold start to the day on Anzac Day, especially compared to the recent warm nights. However, for many of us it will be a dry start to the long weekend.”