Maximum temperatures around the country basically all made double figures today which has been an uncommon sight over this winter to date.

Earlier in the week Central Otago struggled to stay above freezing, whereas today temperatures in Queenstown and Alexandra were nudging the teens.

Although it wasn’t the best of days over the entire country weatherwise, temperatures, which were about  average or above, made it more bearable.

Heavy showers in the north didn’t stop Kataia sharing the national high with Napier and Kaikoura with 17 degrees.

At the other end of the spectrum only Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson region and Waiouru hit a nippy top of just 7 degrees.

To the main centres,  Auckland got to 14 degrees under some heavy downpours, Hamilton a little cooler with just 12, Wellington and Christchurch shared 14 and Dunedin hit a maximum of 13 degrees.

Tonight, relatively mild conditions are expected in many areas with not too many frosts on the cards but in some western and northern areas, a good soaking is likely.