An anticyclone over the country has turned on sunny weather for most of NZ today and one point to mention is the lack of wind, it has allowed temperatures to creep up. There is some rain in Northland however and about the far south in Southland a few showers moved through this morning.

Christchurch hit 17 degrees 30 minutes ago, Auckland has similar temperatures also and Blenheim is on 16 right now. Easterly breezes will start to slowly pick up today north of Auckland however.

This afternoon there is a low risk of a few isolated showers popping up over hills and ranges in Otago, due to some cold upper air and relatively warm surface temperatures making the air a little unstable. Perhaps the most that will happen is some fluffy cumulus clouds will hover about from now onwards.

There will be a few frosts about Central Otago tonight and about inland areas of the South Island, while it may get chilly in other areas of the South Island tonight it will stick above 0 degrees especially in coastal areas as a general northeasterly airflow begins to pick up over the country. The North Island will remain frost free tonight.

Homepage image / Allen Pidwell

By weather analyst Aaron Wilkinson, WeatherWatch.co.nz