But then it appears it will go downhill pretty quickly from there.
MetService meteorologist Braydon White said a large high would move east over New Zealand on Good Friday, bringing a sunny northwesterly flow over the southern regions, with temperatures up to 24°C.
Then on Saturday, a front from the southwest would push over the lower South Island and, as it moved north, it was expected to bring rain.
‘‘But then late on Saturday, the models start to diverge a bit, and what happens next is a bit more uncertain.
‘‘The front stalls somewhere. The question is, how far north does it get before it stalls?’’
He said it could push into Greymouth and northern Westland, spreading rain over Christchurch and North Canterbury.
Or it could stall a bit further south in Westland, and keep pushing rain over the Southern Alps into North Otago, Dunedin and possibly parts of Southland.
So while the official forecast was for rain across much of the regions on Saturday and Sunday, Sunday’s weather was not yet set in stone.
The forecast for Monday was also unclear.
‘‘At this stage, the front kind of rotates out to the west of the country and so it pushes back south a bit, but it also weakens.’’
The official forecast showed it would be mostly wet along coastal Otago, showery in inland Otago and cloudy in Southland.
But if the front stopped further north, it could stop the spread of rain over the Alps at some point on Monday, and the weather could be drier, he said.
‘‘It’s all a bit uncertain through that region, unfortunately.
‘‘It just depends on where exactly this front decides to slow down and what it does after that.
‘‘Overall, I think ‘changeable’ is definitely a good word to use to describe the weather over Easter.’’
