Sunday will be hotter than usual across many parts of New Zealand and Australia with centres in the South Island up to 10 degrees above normal.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says highs in the mid 20s are possible in Central Otago with low to mid 20s possible in many other areas, especially in the south, inland and east.

In Australia, Adelaide will be up into the mid to late 20s on Sunday before a big cool down arrives in Australia on Monday. Daytime maximums will be down 10 degrees from normal in some areas by the start of the working week with SA, VIC, ACT and NSW states all below average on Monday and Tuesday temperature-wise.

With a large high parked to New Zealand’s east coast it will encourage warm northerly quarter winds over the nation for a number of days ahead. This airflow will warm up and dry out as it heads further south across New Zealand with more sunshine, this is why regions like Southland and Otago may be hotter than Northland and Auckland.

However this also means those in the north of both islands will likely shoulder the most cloud and the risk of showers to begin with.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz with The Weather Company