It’s been hot — and more to come

Northland has been sweltering this week, and it isn’t over yet according to the MetService.

Kerikeri has been setting the pace, recording 30.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday and 30.6 degrees on Monday, but is expected to cool off slightly over the coming days, dropping to 27 degrees on Saturday and 25 degrees on Sunday.

Kaitaia is expected to hover around 26 degrees for most of the week, while the forecast for Paihia is for the high 20s.

Meteorologist Lisa Murray said there was little sign of rain for Northland this week. There was a chance of isolated showers today, but no guarantee of anything substantial. Showers were forecast for most of Northland early next week.

According to Niwa, last year’s national average temperature, 13.41 degrees Celsius, (0.80°C above the 1981 — 2010 annual average), made 2018 the equal second warmest year on record along with 1998, behind only 2016, which had a nationwide average temperature of 13.45°C.

The Far North was one of several locations where overall temperatures were plus or minus half a degree of average.

Meanwhile the Far North rated a number of mentions in Niwa’s summary of last year’s climatic highlights:

Kerikeri set a record mean air temperature for the year (since 1945) of 16.1 degrees Celsius, up 0.8 degrees on average, and recorded its second-highest mean maximum air temperature (20.9 degrees). It also recorded its fourth-highest mean minimum air temperature (11.3 degrees).

Cape Reinga set a new minimum temperature record of 20.9 degrees (on February 20), Kaitaia and Kerikeri both recording minimums of 22.2 degrees the same day, the second-highest recorded in both centres.

Cape Reinga’s maximum temperature, 26.4 degrees, on January 27 was a new record, while Kaikohe set new wind records for January (89km/h) and February (154km/h).