It should be the coldest point of the year, but temperatures are forecast to rise across New Zealand for a sub-tropical, dry end to the month.
The South Island looks to garner the greatest increase in temperature above what is normally expected, with Queenstown Lakes district and some parts of Canterbury seeing increases of up to 8C above normal on Thursday.
Otago and Tasman won't miss out on the Thursday warmth, with those regions expected to see increases of up to 3C or 4C.
It will be even warmer on Friday for those areas, with nearly the entire South Island forecast to have up to 8C increases.
The North Island won't see quite the same extensive rise, but parts of the Central Plateau, Taranaki and Wellington will see up to 8C leaps in temperatures on Friday.
The warmth is the result of a sub-tropical airflow hitting the country.
"Basically from mid July to mid-August New Zealand is in the depths of winter temperature-wise. But July is ending on a warm, sub-tropical note and August looks likely to kick off with a weak low bringing more mild airflows in," said Weatherwatch head forecaster Philip Duncan.
It will be a mostly dry end to July for most Kiwi communities, especially on the east coast of both islands. Eastern areas north of Gisborne, however, may see a little rain ranging between 10mm and 30mm while in the west it may reach 15mm.
It's a different story for parts of the South Island's west coast, with the Fiordland National Park expected to see the heaviest rain, reaching totals of potentially 100mm.
WeatherWatch says for most areas the forecast rainfall is well below normal for this time of the year.
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