Christchurch has experienced its warmest day in months, coming within a fraction of reaching 30 degrees this afternoon.

MetService meteorologist John Law told chrislynchmedia.com the city reached 29.9 degrees on the latest set of readings.

“Every minute the weather station sends back the data and I have been refreshing it to see, but 29.9, so I am prepared to round it up if you are,” he said.

Law said it was the first time Christchurch had approached 30 degrees since March.

“It is not unheard of to get to 30 degrees in Christchurch in November. The highest I think we got to was about 32,” he said. “It is not unheard of but it is definitely a real difference to what we have been seeing. It has been a run of very warm days which I think in itself is quite an unusual story.”

Conditions will shift overnight as winds change.

“We have had those northwesterly which really helped to build those temperatures,” Law said. “As we go towards the next couple of hours we will find our winds turning southerly and that will bring in some cooler air.”

Tomorrow is forecast to reach about 17 degrees with more cloud and a few spots of rain. Sunday is expected to reach about 21 degrees.

Law said early next week will feel noticeably colder.

“Monday is a pretty cold day. Fifteen degrees is our top temperature forecast for Monday in Christchurch,” he said. “Compared to what we have seen it is going to be very noticeably different and colder.”

Temperatures are expected to rise again later in the week as northwesterly winds return.

“We are back into northwestern by the second half of the week and that will drag down more warm moist air towards us,” he said. “Our temperatures will be up and down over the next week so I am not ruling out more warm weather, but the start of next week is going to be feeling much colder.”

Law encouraged residents to make the most of the final hours of today’s warm conditions.