Hottest January night on record
Cantabrians had their hottest night for January ever as parts of the city didn't drop below 25 degrees as hot nor' westers engulfed the city.
At 6am the city was still hot at a shade under 27 degrees.
The overnight low at Christchurch Airport was 22 degrees just before midnight but at 3am was 26 degrees whereas other parts of the city such as Belfast and Avonhead were cooking near 30.
"This appears to be some of the heat that Australia has seen and it's worked its way across the Tasman" says weather analyst Richard Green. "It was a tricky night to get some sleep and these sorts of temperatures were about 10-15 degrees above normal during the night" he said.
Kaikoura is also feeling the effects of the fohn wind with a current reading of 28 degrees.
Today the conditions are expected to ease in southern areas after a bit of a pasting with winds and further rain yesterday and overnight.
Not only did the West Coast receive a good dousing but parts of Otago and Southland bore the brunt of nature in full flight.
Queenstown saw an electrical storm as did other parts of the region and heavy rain raised concerns about water levels in the area.Last night wildfire could be seen over the Main Divide as far north as North Canterbury and it was a spectacular display.
Invercargill didn't miss out on the action either with wind and rain coming and going plus temperatures were certainly cool along the southern coast as well.
Yesterday across eastern areas the mercury climbed above 30 degrees across many centres once again with Kaikoura making 33 degrees as the national high.
