Pockets of both the North and South Islands have reached the low 20s today – and it’s all thanks to a big high to our north, pulling down sub-tropical winds over the North Island and upper South Island. At the same time it’s working in tandem with north westerlies coming out Queensland, New South Wales and Canberra.

These warm air-flows are combining over New Zealand so even though we’re in the depths of winter parts of Northland, Auckland, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury have all reached 22 degrees this afternoon – with these regions seeing a spread from about 15 to 22 depending on where you are.

Upper Hutt in Wellington has been hovering around 20 degrees also, although it’s cooler in Wellington City.

Waikato has been in the mid to late teens also. Regions in the north would be even warmer but some cloud cover is keeping temperatures down just a bit, by a degree or two.

Check out this animation from earth.nullschool.net showing the warm air-flows and the origins of the warmth right now across New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia and the Tasman Sea.

Temperatures today are several degrees above average for July in the warmest regions.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz