Christchurch has turned on a fantastic day with temperatures reaching between 30 and 32 degrees across the city this afternoon, additionally winds have been very light. However, and there is always a however to mess with your joy, a southerly breeze has developed on the southern edge of the city recently so it will bring temperatures down a bit.

The Santa Parade down Riccarton road must be a real hit today with the warm weather upon us. And my first “Be a mint day for the beach” comment came through today on facebook so a sure sign summer is here, thanks Shannon Dillion.

But what else is going on? Well it is certainly windy about the lower North Island, currently Palmerston North is experiencing wind gusts up to 75 km/h. About the Southland coast winds are also fairly breezy with 65 km/h gusts from the west. Southland has had a fair few windy days recently so some calm might be appreciated by the locals at some point soon.

Most of the North Island is shrouded under a layer of cloud with some rain in the west south of Auckland, the South Island’s West Coast is mostly cloudy also with a few drizzle patches about.

Homepage image / David Hawke

By weather analyst Aaron Wilkinson – WeatherWatch.co.nz