The Western Bay of Plenty and Coromandel is being warned to expect a few drops of rain this weekend.

A ridge over the North Island is directing northwesterly flow over the South Island today bringing rain to Fiordland.

Some showers are expected in the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty this weekend.

The MetService says this situation continues over the weekend, and the start of next week sees a low approaching the west coast of the South Island.

Most of New Zealand will have a dry weekend, but there are a few exceptions. Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty can expect to get a few showers on Friday and possibly over the weekend.

Further afield in the tropics, Tropical Cyclone Victor - currently to the south of Niue - is expected to slowly track west over the next few days to affect parts of Tonga.

After that, Victor is expected to slide southwards, but its exact destination is yet unknown.

'We continue to monitor a large number of different global weather models and are closely watching the movement of TC Victor to see how and if it will affect New Zealand,” says MetService communications meteorologist Lisa Murray.

'TC Victor is expected to evolve into a mid-latitude low pressure system as it turns south towards New Zealand, where its effects could be felt from the middle of next week.”

MetService advises those in northern parts of New Zealand to keep an eye on metservice.com for information on how Cyclone Victor may affect their region.

'MetService experts are monitoring the situation closely and continuously,” says Lisa.