The unstable weather which brought rain to the Bay this week looks set to move on with more settled conditions expected as a high pressure system builds.

It was a very wet mid-week for central parts of the country as an area of low pressure brought spells of heavy rain to the lower North Island.

The sun looks set to return back to the Bay this weekend before more rain next week.

Rainfall totals exceeded 60mm at Paraparaumu, and across Cook Strait it was wet as well for Marlborough and Nelson.

Rainfall totals in Blenheim reached 21mm - just slightly over the total reported by the same station for the whole of November.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the weather across the majority of New Zealand is forecast to return to more settled conditions, says meteorologist John Law.

'After the wet weather mid-week, the weekend is shaping up to be a much drier affair for many places,” he says.

'However, some showers will bubble up along the South Island ranges, especially north of Arthurs Pass, and there'll be a few along the ranges of Hawke's Bay and Gisborne too.”

Areas of cloud are still set to linger over parts of the country, especially along the eastern coast, but some of the sunniest weather is forecast for southern Canterbury.

'MetService forecasters will also be keeping a close eye on some wetter weather pushing back onto Northland during Saturday, possibly sliding as far south as Auckland and the Coromandel for Sunday,” adds John.

Apart from some expected cloud over Lakes Taupo and Rotorua during Saturday, the forecast is dry for both the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Taupo Half and Rotorua Half Ironman.

Temperatures for the early start of these events are likely to be around 9C before climbing to around 20C at both locations through the day.

John says: 'Next week could also potentially be a wet and windy affair, with another rapidly deepening area of low pressure bringing possible heavy rain and thunderstorms back across the North Island for the start of the working week.”