Weekend weather: Temperatures soar across the country

November owes its warm welcome to a warm mass, courtesy of Australia, channelled over New Zealand by a big high pressure system parked over the Tasman Sea. Graphic / via MetService

It's been a pearler of weekend weather across the country with temperatures soaring in many regions.

The hottest place in the country today was Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty, with temperatures rising to 34.5C as of 3pm this afternoon, MetService meteorologist Andrew James said.

The Garden City was close behind, with 31.3C sizzling the tarmac at Christchurch Airport this afternoon.

It was perfect ice-cream weather in Kawerau today, with temperatures climbing to 34.5C. Photo/File

The scorching temperatures continued their way south, with temperatures pushing 30C in inland Canterbury, Marlborough and inland Otago.

It's been a bit cooler northwards, with balmy temperatures around 18C in Wellington and Auckland paired with a light breeze.

A view from outer space shows nearly maximum solar insolation (aka sunshine) across the country. This coupled with hot air from Aussie are fuelling the heat.

As of 1 pm, Christchurch (Kyle Street) and Cheviot are vying for the top temperature at 31.9 and 31.8, respectively. pic.twitter.com/oSP2v5Dui0

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) November 3, 2019

November owes its warm welcome to a warm mass, courtesy of Australia, channelled over New Zealand by a big high pressure system parked over the Tasman Sea. James said current temperatures are well above normal for this early in November.

"A lot of them are 6 or 8 degrees above the long term average in November," he said.

"To see temperatures this warm this early in spring is unusual."

New Zealand's hottest November temperature on record occurred at Lake Coleridge (35.6C, 1920) followed by Gisborne (34.8C, 2016).

Niwa reported several spots in inland Otago might have hit record figures even yesterday - they included Clyde (32.5C), Alexandra (32.2C) and Windsor (30.8C).

But today is set to be the warmest day, with temperatures beginning to fall next week.

James said the weather will stay "pretty warm" over the next few days, before a front moving over the South Island on Wednesday will start to drag temperatures down.

It's also looking a little cooler in the North Island towards the end of next week.

Later, during the second week of November and into the middle of the month, some strong fronts were possible in the South Island, bringing rounds of heavy rain and an increased risk for areas of flooding, especially in the west.

MetService predicted that, overall, monthly temperatures for November would end up above average for northern and eastern regions of both Islands, with prevailing mild northwesterly winds and near-normal rainfall for most places.