Critical southwesterly. Two words dominating the last few days of weather, keeping things calm around a lot of New Zealand.

And we're staying the course, in that sense, with MetService forecasting a mostly settled end to the school holidays.

"A high pressure system sits over the country, making for benign weather for most Kiwis, with some wet weather expected in northeastern regions," says MetService meteorologist Tui McInnes.

However, northwesterlies begin to push over the South Island as the weekend draws to a close.

"Expect rain on the West Coast, some making it into the deep south, and more typically breezy winds for Wellington."

Rounding out the month, April has been drier than average for much of the country.

"Significantly, the dry areas stretch across most of our population, so the majority of Kiwis will have experienced less rainfall than normal this month."

There are exceptions; Southland and southern Westland along with Gisborne and eastern Northland have all had more rainfall than on average.

This will have been welcome for Southland which has been experiencing a long run of drier than average months.

Image: MetService.