Your weather: Settled and dry with warmer nights returning

There's plenty of beach weather to come this week.

Sunshine is set to dominate the weather agenda with temperatures reaching into the late 20s this week.

A ridge over New Zealand is bringing light winds, mostly sunny skies, and warm temperatures.

MetService meteorologist Sarah Haddon said settled dry weather was expected through the week.

"Everyone is going to have a relatively warm week for this time of year," Haddon said.

"For the North Island this week we have highs in the mid to late 20s.

"Especially towards the end of the week we are going to get back some of those muggier, warmer, overnight temperatures.

"The ones that are a little bit harder to sleep in."

Over the next four days the South Island was getting really warm with parts of Marlborough, Canterbury Plains and Otago set to have highs of or close to 30C, she said.

Blenheim was tracking towards 30C today, with Ashburton and Christchurch close behind.

Alexandra is forecast to have a high of 26C and Timaru 27C today.

"It is the start of March still, so we are still seeing some summery weather around."

The warmer weather has also been felt across the ditch with record-breaking temperatures reported in Australia.

According to WeatherWatch, Hobart broke a 79-year-old record with its hottest March day on Saturday and reached 38C at 1pm.

#Updated: Summer heat returns with March, Sunday & next week look warmer than average for many (+Maps) https://t.co/JscqEzUTCf via @weatherwatchnz

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) March 2, 2019

Main centre forecasts today
Whangārei
Fine. Light southwesterlies. High 27C, low 14C.

Auckland
Fine. Light winds at first, then southwesterlies developing this afternoon. High 25C, 16C.

Hamilton
Fine apart from evening cloud. Light winds, but afternoon and evening southwesterlies. High 28C, 10C.

Tauranga
Fine, apart from some morning cloud. Northerlies developing afternoon, turning southwest evening. High 27C, 13C.

Wellington
Fine, apart from some morning cloud. Northerlies, strong for a time this afternoon and evening. High 21C, 14C.

Christchurch
Fine, some morning cloud. Winds turning northwest afternoon. High 28C, 11C.

Dunedin
Fine, some evening cloud. Winds turning northwest. High 23C, 15C.
Source: MetService