Some drought-stricken areas will start to see some small relief this week as rain is forecast to finally fall on some regions.
The North Island will benefit from most of the showery activity today with light drizzly showers in some parts of Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and some other surrounding areas, WeatherWatch.co.nz said.
The showers were further evidence of predictions that the long run of non-stop dry weather was gradually coming to an end for some drought regions, head analyst Philip Duncan said.
"We aren't seeing the big rainfall totals yet but we are seeing a change in the weather pattern - away from week after week of zero rain, to showers in almost every region, every week.
"There is no silver bullet that will fix all the droughts at once, but we are now seeing a gradual chipping away at the big highs that caused the droughts in the first place," he said.
Patchy rain and showers was forecast for Easter Sunday across some parts of New Zealand," he said.
Some "decent rain" was expected to fall on the West Coast of the South Island on Easter Monday, easing in the afternoon.
Most other parts of the country appeared mainly dry, which was good news for holidaymakers heading home but not for those areas needing more rain, Mr Duncan said.
Next week western and northern areas should benefit from bands of showers from time to time with the chance of brief periods of rain in the mix; however long, dry spells are also expected.
"However, the weather continues to favour dry weather for the east, especially the eastern North Island," Mr Duncan said.
