Thank Australia for a hot weekend

Many parts of the country are expected to bask in warm sunshine with light winds and soaring temperatures this weekend.

Some places in the east and inland are forecast to top 30 degrees Celsius, although right at the coast conditions may not be quite so balmy.

It’s possible November temperature records could be set in some places, although the top November temperature ever recorded in New Zealand – 35.6C recorded at Canterbury’s Lake Coleridge in 1920 – could be out of reach.

MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the warm air originated from Australia and was being transported across the Tasman Sea around the edges of a large, slow-moving high.

Blenheim is forecast to get to 31 degrees Celsius on Sunday and 30C on Monday, for Hastings it’s 31C and 29C on the two days, for Christchurch 31C and 28C, while Tauranga and Tokoroa are looking at 27C on both days.

Near the bottom of the South Island the warmest days are Saturday and

Sunday, with Alexandra forecast to get to 30C and 29C, and even Invercargill is on course for a 24C Saturday and 23C Sunday.

Little said the high in the Tasman Sea was slow moving so warm air would be carried across from Australia for a prolonged period. ‘‘Because the high isn’t moving much, the pattern is able to keep going. We’re still seeing the air being transported basically for about a threeday period.’’ Little said.

Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said high temperatures were likely to persist for the first 10 days of November.