Start of winter brings record-breaking high temperatures

There's a reason Wellingtonians might've been sweating overnight, MetService says.

The forecaster said the first official days of winter have seen record-breaking highs with temperatures peaking around 20 degrees Celcius.

Meterologist Lewis Ferris said Monday and Tuesday reached 19.9 and 19.8 degrees, smashing June's 55-year-old maximum temperature record by more than 1.5 degrees.

He said the previous record of 18.3 and 18.5 recorded at the airport and in the suburb of Kelburn had been in place since 1971.

Ferris said temperatures tickling 20 degrees were rare for this time of year, where the average daily maximum was around 12-13 degrees.

"To see an average daily temperature around that 19-20, we'd more be looking at March."

Ferris said the capital's residents weren't the only ones experiencing a warm June, so far.

"Basically, Northland, Auckland all the way down to Southland did see temperatures well-above average.

"A lot of those represented in those overnight temperatures thanks to the cloudy conditions but also very warm air being dragged down from the north.

"So if you have been sweating it up overnight for the last couple of days, that's probably what is going on."

Ferris said the temperatures couldn't "wholly" be attributed to climate change, but said it lowered the barrier for records to be broken, with global warming increasing average temperatures each year.

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