Weather: One of NZ's warmest Julys followed by record-breaking lows

MetService is forecasting a warmer and wetter weekend, following a record-breaking week of icy temperatures.

Meteorologist Braydon White said parts of the country plunged to record-breaking minimum temperatures on Thursday and Friday.

"Taumarunui and Rotorua both broke their coldest temperatures ever recorded. Rotorua's records go back to 1972, so that's quite a notable record to be broken."

White said Taupō, Palmerston North and Whangerei all broke their August minimum temperature records this week.

He added that rain was on the way for much of the country, with a heavy rain watch in place for the northwest corner of the South Island, including Buller, until Sunday morning.

"We are not expecting extremely high rainfall intensities, but due to the duration there could be a fair amount of rain that drops in the area. So, we do have a moderate risk of it being upgraded to a warning."

White said the rain was forecasted to move north and most of the North Island could expect a wet Sunday.

Meanwhile, Earth Sciences NZ's latest climate summary reveals that the nationwide average temperature in July was 8.9C. This was 0.8C above the 1991-2020 July average, making it New Zealand's 12th-warmest July on record.