Yesterday was a scorcher across many parts of the country especially in the north and east of the country where thermometers hit the 30s and in a few cases, topped the 40s.

We’ve had a few queries recently about temperatures and which ones are more accurate than others. The MetService have their ‘official ‘ sites dotted around the country but more and more people have their own weather stations at home or in the office and some just have a thermometer outside the kitchen or in the backyard.

Which ones are right? Well it depends who you talk to.  Scientists will say it needs to be in the shade and at a certain height with a particular brand of thermometer. Popular opinion however suggests that some so called ‘official’ sites are situated well away from built up areas and often do not reflect what people are actually experiencing on a daily basis.

In some cases there can be a 2-3 degree difference on certain days, if not a little more, if the heat is quite extreme.  Of course the question then arises whether it works the same way when it’s cooler? Perhaps we could look into that another time.

It can be a little bit confusing with all these numbers being bandied about and this is compounded when we see the ‘real’ temperatures at the end of the day but we think that it felt warmer than the actual high…I suggest to go with your instinct as you’re in the sun and not always in the shade plus you’re not hovering about a metre above ground!!

Today looks as if a southerly will inch its way forward over the mainland which will ease the rain in the west but hopefully deliver much cooler and showery conditions to the east eventually.

Further north the heat remains today and ahead to the weekend, a few drizzly showers are possible over Northland, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty (there could be a few sprinkles at the cricket tomorrow in Auckland) but parched Gisbornites might not see too much relief at this point.

Overall a cooling down is expected for the nation this weekend but next week the sun returns and the temperatures will be back on the rise by the look of things!

Weather Analyst – Richard Green