If today’s showers have you worried about the weather on Christmas Day, there’s good news: fine, settled conditions are on the way.

MetService meteorologist Alec Holden said many in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua woke to scattered rain this morning as a weak front crossed the region.

However, that system is moving northeast and “we should not be seeing that back for a while”.

“The sun should be bursting out this afternoon,” he said, leading into a clear and pleasant Christmas Eve before the main event tomorrow.

It's Christmas Eve and here are today's forecast highs!

Another scorcher of a day in Hawke's Bay, with Hastings and Napier forecast to hit the thirties again

If you're out in the sun and heat:

Make sure to stay hydrated,
be sunsmart,
seek shade,
and look… pic.twitter.com/6b1K7OLzHs

— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 23, 2025

Today’s temperatures: Tauranga 26°C, Whakatāne 27°C, Rotorua 24°C.

Holden said Christmas Day will deliver a very nice spell of weather across the Bay of Plenty and into the Coromandel. No rain is expected, with “continuous blasting of blue skies for the overwhelming majority of the day”.

Cloud is expected to creep in during the evening, which may disappoint those hoping for stargazing conditions, “but that’s the price we pay for a very nice Christmas Day”, he said.

Christmas Day highs: Whakatāne 23C, Tauranga and Coromandel 24C, Rotorua 23–24C.

Christmas Day would be a very nice day across the Bay of Plenty. Photo / 123rf

The fine weather won’t last. The same weak front will redevelop and return on Boxing Day, bringing widespread rainfall – possibly heavy in the eastern ranges.

“For those out and about looking to snag some deals, it’s probably worth bringing not only your shopping bags, but also an umbrella.”

While that frontal system would wash back in on Boxing Day, it would wash back out on the weekend.

Shoppers should take an umbrella with them on Boxing Day. Photo / NZME

“That’s not to say it’s going to be fine and sunny over the weekend, unfortunately,” Holden said.

“It looks like there’s going to be some isolated showers plaguing what should otherwise be a generally nice weekend.”

He said the weekend temperatures would be cooler with that cloud cover rolling around.

Maximum temperatures would be 21C to 22C across the entire region.

Holden said mugginess was quite likely.

“It is going to be quite sticky.

“However, as we look towards the weekend, when that frontal feature gets washed out for the second time, we are looking at a break from those humid conditions.”

Looking ahead to next week, showers and southerly winds for Monday and Tuesday are forecast across the region.

Fine weather is expected to return on Wednesday through to Friday.