The big wet moved south over central parts of the country today but despite this, temperatures were quite decent, well for most of us.

Whangarei held firmly to the highest temperature in the land with 19 degrees, whereas it was a different story in Canterbury, with Hororata coming in with just 6 degrees, Methven and Hanmer Springs on 7 and Timaru and Ashburton struggling to make 8 degrees.
In stark contrast to that, on the other side of the Alps, Milford Sound got to 14 and Haast, a balmy 16, which is about 8 degrees above the August average.

Auckland today managed 17, Hamilton 15, Wellington a little cooler with 12, Christchurch 10 and Dunedin topped 11 degrees.

Tonight ,the soaking continues for many but the cloud cover should keep temperatures above average but certainly no ‘Hot August Night ‘.

The overnight lows tonight, generally remain in double figures throughout most of the North Island, but the coolest part of the nation should be in Central Otago and most of Southland, with a frost on the cards but at least dry conditions should prevail over the next few days for most southern areas.

WEATHER ANALYST RICHARD GREEN