A warm respite from the the cold snap earlier this month is in store as parts of the country experience subtropical weather.
Several regions have warmer than average temperatures for mid-August, which is usually the coldest time of the year.
At midday today it was 17C in Christchurch, 5C higher than average, and other parts of Canterbury have temperaturses in the low 20s.
Dunedin was a mild 16 degrees, and northern Hawke's Bay reached 19C.
Central Otago is in the mid-teens, when earlier in August the region was averaging about 0C.