MetService is forecasting temperatures to reach 29°C in Mosgiel, 28°C in Alexandra, and 27°C in Dunedin and Oamaru.
Meteorologist Lewis Ferris said despite a few spots of "short-lived" rain in the morning and the chance of an afternoon shower, the day would be mainly dry.
Temperatures would be high again in Mosgiel and Alexandra tomorrow when the mercury could rise to 28°C in Mosgiel and 29°C in Alexandra.
However, in Dunedin and Oamaru, a cloudier day would bring some relief by causing the temperature to drop to 23°C."It will be similar to the hot day you saw last Thursday.
"You’ll have northwesterly winds which will help bump that temperature up, but we also have quite a warm, humid air mass moving on to the country.
"It does, of course, bring with it some rain, but that will be mainly on the West Coast.
"So for Otago, there’s not really going to be too much in the way of wet weather — maybe a little sprinkling but it will be short lived."
He believed it was possible some spots on the Taieri and Central Otago may break the 30°C mark today or tomorrow."It’s not out of the question."
He said everyone should be exempt from mowing lawns today because it would be too hot.
"It’s getting towards the sort of temperatures where the overall idea is to avoid strenuous activity — particularly in the hottest part of the day.
"And we are also getting into that fire-risk zone. Something as simple as mowing your lawn does generate a lot of heat and if your grass is already quite dry, it could go on fire."
Mr Ferris said it would be a hot week for much of Otago, with temperatures reaching the low-to-mid 20s for the rest of this week.
"And we might even see some of that going into next week as well.
"Night-time temperatures will also be above average so it might make for some difficult sleeping conditions."
