‘Nowhere to hide’
Timaru heatwave hits 37.5C
With temperatures soaring above 37 degrees Celsius in parts of South Canterbury yesterday, builders downed tools and attractions were closed, but it could be another couple of days before the region gets any respite from the heat.
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the temperature in Timaru peaked at 37.5C at 2pm, breaking a five-year record.
The last time Timaru experienced conditions like this in January was in 2015, when Timaru Airport reached 36.4C, Ferris said.
Yesterday’s temperature is also one of the warmest recorded this summer across the country. It hasn’t broken the country’s overall record temperature, though, which sits at about 42C.
Stonewood Homes Timaru director Chris Karton said at least one of the company’s building sites had been cleared of workers in response to rising temperatures in the town.
‘‘They’re contractors, so we just leave it up to their discretion when to go home,’’ Karton said.
‘‘We certainly wouldn’t encourage them to stay out working. I’m a builder and there’s nowhere to hide when it’s that hot. We don’t want anyone getting dizzy and dehydrated.’’
Aorangi Homes carpenter Juran Moore, foreman of a site on Timaru’s Park View Tce, said it was hotter than normal but his team of two builders and two roofers was managing to cope.
‘‘We’re taking a lot of water breaks, and putting on plenty of sunscreen,’’ Moore said.
‘‘One of the boys even went for a swim at lunch.’’
The team was working ‘‘right on the sea’’ near Caroline Bay, so the cool breeze coming off the water was helping them cool down as well, Moore said.
Caroline Bay mini-golf operator Russell Stone said they decided to close for the day just after 1pm.
‘‘We’ve never had days like this before. We’ve closed down because of rain before, but this is the first time we’ve closed down due to heat,’’ Stone said.
He said given it was school holidays, he expected about 30 people to have gone through the course today.
‘‘It’s not worth the hassle. You’d feel really bad if someone collapsed and hit their head – it’s not worth making a dollar for that.’’
The Timaru Host Lions Club’s Caroline Bay miniature train was also closed yesterday afternoon due to the heat.
Ray Jackson said they opened at 12pm and had not had a customer by just after 1pm.
‘‘It’s too hot; no-one wants to ride a train.
‘‘I can’t remember it being this hot for years,’’ he said.
Some beachgoers at Caroline Bay were also struggling with the heat.
Rosie Pilgrim said she could not recall Timaru being so hot.
‘‘It’s too hot, like an oven. Now I know how a rotisserie chicken feels.’’
Pilgrim said she had planned to come to the beach after seeing the forecast yesterday, but said ‘‘it’s too much’’.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said afternoon heat had caused the activation of two alarms in Timaru, one in the CBD on Sophia St at 1.20pm, and at the DB Breweries Washdyke plant on Sheffield St at 2.15pm.
Fruit pickers at Butler’s Fruit Farm at Hook, near Waimate, started at daybreak and several were still persevering in the scorching temperatures by early afternoon.
‘‘They were picking all morning, all were happy,’’ manager Donald Butler said.
‘‘It’s too hot, like an oven. Now I know how a rotisserie chicken feels.’’ Rosie Pilgrim
‘‘Yes, it’s massively hot and hard on them, but they wear sunhats and forge on regardless of the weather. They’ve got families to feed.’’
Butler said he only had ‘‘three to four pickers at the moment’’.
He said his workers come from the Philippines, Nepal, Fiji and India.
Glenwood Home facility manager Veronica Ligteringen said the rest home had activated its ‘‘heat health plan’’ in response to increasing temperatures in Timaru.
‘‘It means our heat pumps get turned on to air conditioning, so we have control of the temperature inside. We have one heat pump in every room,’’ Ligteringen said.
‘‘We put this plan in place when we know the temperatures are going to be over 25 degrees [Celsius].’’
The plan was developed about 12 months ago, after the unions sent out a general email to rest home employers about making sure staff were comfortable in their working environment.
Ligteringen said she had not received any complaints from residents about the heat.
‘‘We make sure the residents have fresh water, and drinking trolleys go around all the time.’’
Ferris said more warm weather was in store for Timaru today, with temperatures forecast to reach 31C.
There would be a ‘‘dramatic change’’ ’ tomorrow, with wet weather and a drop in temperature to about 20C.
‘‘A cool southerly change will make itself known very early in the day,’’ he said.