There is a pretty good chance it will rain on Christmas Day in Central Otago, but if we’re lucky the temperature might still reach 18 degC.

MetService meteorologist Alec Holden said there will be rolling showers on and off over the course of the day, “but if you are brave you could still get out and have a barbecue.”

He said New Zealand in general has been experiencing a lot of westerly winds in recent weeks, more typical of spring weather than summer.

“A lot of that is from the South West, bringing with it more colder air masses.”

There hasn't been a lot of activity on Lake Dunstan, and those that have braved the water for a swim say the temperature is still pretty cool.

“I don’t like your chances of your lakes heating up in the next week,” Alex said.

The westerly flow is likely to be sticking around for a while yet, and at least into the weekend across Otago, and MetService said it was not going to be particularly warm anywhere.

“It’s definitely not what you would expect Xmas time to be like in Central Otago. It’s very unseasonable.”

Looking further into the early New Year, Alec said it was still too early to say how the weather will be for those heading away camping and boating.

The weather is similar to 2024 where there was a real mixture of warm and wet days over the Christmas/New Year period.

For the latest weather reports on Central Otago towns, check out our weather page.