Heating bills across coastal Otago and Southland will get some relief as forecast temperatures climb to "warmer-than-usual" levels for much of this working week.
MetService meteorologist Alec Holden said temperatures reached 18°C in Dunedin yesterday afternoon, and there was more like it to come later this week.
Rain is expected in Dunedin today, dropping the forecast high of the day back to 12°C, but the weather will clear tomorrow, sending the mercury up to 15°C and then 17°C on Wednesday and Thursday.
Also on Wednesday and Thursday, Mosgiel is expected to reach 18°C, Oamaru will reach 16°C, and Invercargill will reach the mid-teens for most of the working week.
"Unfortunately, these temperatures are mixed with rain, but hey, what are you going to do?" Mr Holden said.
A front would move up out of the southern Tasman on Wednesday and drive warmer northwesterlies across the South Island.
"We have a combination of fronts that are coming through, and as they approach, they are driving those warmer northwesterlies up and over the Southern Alps and across the island, which is what’s causing these higher temperatures.
"It’s the Foehn wind effect."
He said there would also be warmer overnight temperatures, giving much of the southern regions a reprieve from frosty morning starts.
"The reason for that is because it’s going to be so windy.
"Normally overnight, we see a lot of infrared radiation leaving the ground and up into space, which causes the ground to cool and for everything to get colder at the surface.
"However, when it’s really windy, all of the air further up that’s warmer gets pushed down, so we get this set-up where the heat from the surface is replenished by the warm air churning down from above."
Unfortunately for inland parts of Otago and Southland, this week’s day-time temperatures would not be noticeably different from what they had already been over the past few weeks, he said.
