A chorus of cicadas ringing out through Tauranga is confirmation summer is here, despite the horrendous weekend weather.

'I'm sitting in the MetService office in the Botanic Gardens, Wellington and can hear a chorus of cicadas which is the first time I have noticed them this loud all year,” says MetService communications meteorologist Lisa Murray.

Wellington is not the only place feeling the heat, with warm muggy temperatures over most of the country yesterday. Last night was once again uncomfortably warm in the upper North Island.

Temperatures in Whangarei, Whitianga and Tauranga only dipped a little overnight, with minimum temperatures of 20 degrees recorded.

Auckland, Napier and Gisborne dropped down to 19 degrees overnight, and it was also a humid night for Hamilton, Taupo and New Plymouth with 17 degrees.

The warmth and humidity are set to continue for the start of the week across most of New Zealand. The weather map is dominated by ridges of high pressure this week, which is great news for those who are hanging out for more summery days.

Many places see a good amount of fine weather and light winds during the week. On Tuesday, a band of rain moves onto the southwest corner of the country bringing rain to Fiordland and Westland, and some scattered falls are expected to spread east of the ranges into Southland and parts of inland Otago.

This band of rain eases as it moves north, showing up as cloud as it passes over central New Zealand late Wednesday. 'More sunshine is on the way as another ridge moves in from the west towards the end of the week,” says Lisa.

'But there is a front approaching from the south Tasman Sea on Saturday which will dampen some areas, so do check the forecast when making weekend plans.”