Weather: Chilly start to second day of the Matariki long weekend

The coldest morning of 2026 for parts of the South Island was recorded on Saturday, according to MetService.

It was a frosty start right up to Northland, with the Far North township of Kaeo chilling to 1.1C.

Canterbury's Mount Cook saw a low of -9C, while Invercargill saw -2.9C and Nelson -0.3C.

Despite that, Earth Sciences New Zealand expected the rest of winter to be warmer than usual, with less rainfall than expected.

June was New Zealand's warmest since it began collecting data in 1909.

The nationwide average temperature in June was 10.6C, with the highest temperature of 26C observed in the Christchurch suburb of Bromley on 20 June - a new record.

Earth Sciences New Zealand principal scientist Chris Brandolino anticipated the country to have a warmer than usual July as well, with temperatures more than two degrees above average in some areas.

"Temperatures have been running much warmer than average across much of the South Island."

While the central North Island from Taranaki to Hawke's Bay had been colder than average, the lower North Island, including Wellington and Wairarapa, and the Far North had also been much warmer than what was expected for the month of July.

Brandolino said the North Island was also forecast to have below the normal level of rainfall over the next three months.

While it would be the driest in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Taranaki, there was also not much more rain expected for Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, and Wairarapa.

"Below normal rainfall doesn't mean zero rain, it just means less than what is typical over the same three-month period when you look at, you know, history, what we call climatology," he added.

However, Brandolino warned that the weather may be too dry from September, as a result of El Niño kicking in.

"As we go deeper into the winter season, and especially spring, we're going to have to watch for more dryness, unfortunately.

"We're going to go to the other side of the spectrum, it looks like, or at least that's what the odds favour. Things may change, but that's how it's looking now."