It's official: that was the warmest July day in Dunedin in recorded history.
The temperature maxed out at 20.3degC at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research's Musselburgh station, the warmest July reading in the city since records began in 1947.
The city basked in a weather sweet spot and for a time was the hottest place in New Zealand.
But MetService said things would start to go south by this afternoon and tomorrow would see a return to regular winter service.
"You're in a sweet spot just before a trough to the south and after that front that moved over yesterday, so you're sitting pretty compared to the rest of the country,'' meteorologist April Clark said.
As of 12.30pm Dunedin - at 20.1 degC - was the hottest place in New Zealand, according to the MetService website.
However, things were not quite so rosy further south, with Invercargill the coldest in the country at 11degC.
Ms Clark said Dunedin was expected to get a few showers by late this afternoon as a trough moved over from the west.
Northerlies were bringing the current warm temperatures, she said.
"It is turning southerly from tomorrow, so overnight you'll be getting that southerly change behind that trough, so generally mainly fine today with a few showers possible from a trough that's mainly affecting the west.''
The MetService thunderstorm outlook said the front would bring with it the chance of thunderstorms across the South.
There was a moderate risk of thunderstorms about Fiordland, southern Westland and Stewart Island, which extended to coastal Southland and Clutha this evening.
Any thunderstorms that occurred had the potential to bring localised heavy rain with intensities of 10mm to 20 mm/hr and small hail, and for southern Westland and Fiordland strong winds gusting 90 km/hr.
A lower risk of thunderstorms extended north to central Westland and east to remaining areas of Southland, Clutha and Otago.
The high in Dunedin tomorrow was predicted to be 11degC, still up from the winter maximum average of 9.5degC.
