The weekend’s scorching temperatures are expected to settle this coming week.

Tauranga was expected to reach 26C today, compared to the 31C recorded on Sunday.

Rotorua was forecast to hit 27C today.

MetService said these temperatures were also expected for the rest of the week.

The week was expected to remain fairly dry, with the small chance of afternoon and evening cloud throughout and isolated showers.

Warm, subtropical air, which holds a lot of heat, has moved across the country, MetService said.

The subtropical air “along with the summer sun, keeps things nice and toasty”, it said.

Its been a scorcher of a day, with new maximum December temperatures provisionally set in Tauranga and Whitianga.
Whitianga was particularly notable, smashing the previous December record of 28.8°C, which was set in 1998, by 2.1°C! pic.twitter.com/SwnV1Lypqc

— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 7, 2025

“Things will cool down towards the end of this week, around Friday.”

Overnight temperatures could drop to the single digits, but no lower than 9C.

The maximum temperature will be in the low 20s, rather than the high 20s/early 30s recorded last weekend.

On Sunday, 31.2C was recorded for Tauranga.

Whakatāne followed closely behind with 31C recorded.

Rotorua recorded 26C on Saturday and 28C on Sunday.

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