Kiwis are enjoying balmy weather and sunshine this weekend as 90 percent of the country reaches temperatures 10C above average.
Weather forecast company WeatherWatch says the warm weather is due to spring westerlies kicking in across the South Island and lower half of the North Island.
These winds have sub-tropical and Australian connections, sweeping those hotter-than-average temperatures right across the country.
MetService has reported Port Hills, Christchurch as hitting the highest temperature so far for Saturday, reaching a summery 24.9C.
NIWA is predicting even higher temperatures for Sunday with a max temperature of 27C for Canterbury and Otago and 26C for Hawkes Bay.
Although it's not clear skies for all, Fiordland is expected to have light showers turning to heavy rain by Sunday.
The South Island will also be experiencing some strong northwest winds over the weekend of over 120km/h.
There are strong wind warnings in place for Southland and Canterbury and a heavy rain watch in place for Fiordland. A full list of MetService severe weather outlooks can be found here.
WeatherWatch says the high temperatures of Saturday and Sunday are expected to drop in most places by Tuesday. A cold front is developing and places may see drops of 10C within 24 hours.
For example:
- Gore's Monday high is 20, Tuesdays high is 10C
- Dunedin's Monday high is 18C, Tuesday is 10C
- Christchurch's Monday high is 25C, Tuesday is 11C
- Alexandra's Monday high is 22C, Wednesday is 13C
Auckland and Hamilton won't see too much of an extreme change and temperature drops will be more gradual taking place over a few days.
Hamilton's high of 23C on Monday is expected to drop to 16C by Thursday and Auckland's high of 20C on Monday is also expected to be 16C by Thursday.
NIWA says all temperatures in New Zealand are likely to be above average for the October to November period. The country is also expected to have normal to below-normal amounts of rainfall and higher air pressure than average.
This is due to the 'La Niña-like' northeasterly air flow anomalies. NIWA is likely to be able to confirm whether New Zealand is experiencing a La Niña weather pattern in November.
