NZ sweats as Australia burns

BLISTERING TEMPERATURES across the Ditch have set the mercury boiling here, with 30-degree Celsius heat sweeping the country this weekend.

Hot air from the heat wave blanketing Australia has leaked out over the Tasman Sea and is expected to make its way up the North Island today.

Yesterday delivered sweltering temperatures in the lower South Island, as Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill reached 30-plus highs while Alexandra was expected to climb to 33C in the late afternoon.

‘‘There’s a stagnant pool of really warm weather sitting over Australia, and a little filament of that warm air extends to us,’’ Victoria University climate scientist James Renwick said.

‘‘That warm air is just running over the country.’’

The MetService forecast for today predicts Auckland would reach a high of 27C, and Wellington and Christchurch would get to 24C.

Renwick said Australia’s temperatures affected New Zealand only from time-to-time, if the wind was heading the right way.

Bushfires broke out in the scorching heat in Tasmania yesterday, destroying houses and leaving some towns cut off.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said it was possible Australia could reach a new national average high at the weekend. The current national average high is 40.14C, set in 1972.

The high temperatures across the Ditch turned deadly with reports that a woman collapsed and died while walking near Cape Otway in Victoria’s southwest on Friday when temperatures peaked above 40C. Authorities feared the mercury could pass 50C today.

Meanwhile, gale warnings the length of the country were last night threatening to put a dampener on boaties’ plans in Kiwi holiday hotspots. Cape Brett, Cape Colville, Foveaux Strait, Bay of Plenty and Portland Island, in Hawke’s Bay, could all see gales of 40 knots. Fullers Ferries cancelled all today’s services to and from Great Barrier Island where a swell of five metres was expected.