Weather: Auckland expecting its hottest day of summer so far before widespread rain

Auckland is expecting its hottest day of the summer so far with the mercury set to hit 28C today.

MetService forecaster Braydon White told the Herald most of the country’s weather would be “rinse and repeat” from the last two days, with plenty of sunshine and heat.

“Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all very similar with a bit of rain for the far south and the West Coast,” he said.

“For most places, it’s a relatively settled day. It’s not until Thursday when things start to change.”

White said the settled weather and summer meant temperatures would remain high.

“The daytime temperatures would be mid-20s for much of the country, with a couple of places hitting 30C.”

According to MetService, Auckland is forecast to reach a high of 28C today and 27C tomorrow and Friday.

Hamilton is forecast to reach 28C today and 26C tomorrow and Friday.

“As we head later into the week and we start getting that tropical air coming from the north, that’s when we start to see those overnight minimums jump up,” White said.

Tomorrow, Auckland is forecast to reach 21C overnight, and Hamilton will reach 18C tomorrow and Friday.

MetService earlier described tomorrow’s weather as “uncomfortably hot” with heat alerts likely.

Forecaster Silvia Martino said afternoon temperatures were set to climb into the high 20s on Thursday, with some places in Wairarapa and Canterbury potentially cracking 30C; 6 or 7C above average for this time of year.

However, wet weather is forecast to sweep back across the country as the weekend nears.

White said a trough of rain was forecast to sweep down from the north on to Aotearoa.

“Friday is looking like a wet day for the entire country,” he said.

“There is a fair bit of uncertainty as we head into the weekend. We’re expecting a low to form on that trough somewhere to the east of the country.”

He said the rainfall location was still unclear.

“There is a risk for the eastern North Island, places like Gisborne, eastern Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay. It could be quite a deep low, so there will be some quite strong southerlies.”

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