Heavy showers have fallen across the upper North Island this afternoon, but in the weeks ahead downpours should be almost as rare as empty seats at the Cricket World Cup final.
There was potential for a big soaking over northern inland areas early this week, said MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr.
Yet most local Cricket World Cup games shouldn't have to adopt complex run-rate calculations to cope with play being called off.
"The Cricket World Cup games in Nelson and Dunedin should be mainly fine and sunny, with cloudy periods forecast for Friday's game in the capital," Mr Kerr said.
The West Indies and Ireland are playing in Nelson today, while New Zealand is set to take on Scotland in Dunedin tomorrow.
Punters could be forgiven for thinking Friday's cloudy weather in Wellington would make both teams, New Zealand and England, feel right at home.
Meanwhile, motorists in the upper North Island have been warned to watch out for sudden downpours and potential surface flooding, WeatherWatch said today.
Auckland, Northland and a few parts of the eastern Waikato were most affected, but the showers should dissipate after sunset, scheduled for Auckland at 8.17pm.
A few heavy downpours were expected early this week over the North Island ranges, especially in areas from Waikato north.
But WeatherWatch said most of the next fortnight would be dry.
"...The heavy downpours look set to become more isolated as this week progresses, with no real rain for New Zealand for the next couple of weeks," WeatherWatch said.
"A front may brush Southland mid this week but it's unlikely to send rain too much further north into the driest areas."
Apart from the occasional shower, North Otago, Canterbury, Marlborough and Wairarapa could all expect mostly dry weather for the next 10 days, WeatherWatch said.
