Parts of Auckland were sweltering in 30C temperatures at lunchtime today with private weather stations now reporting temperatures over 30 degrees.  WeatherWatch forecaster Philip Duncan says the city’s official reading could reach 30C later today.

The official temperature was 28C at 12.30pm, but there were unofficial readings of 30C at Howick and Pakuranga in the east and Henderson in the west, he said.

Mr Duncan said most years parts of Auckland reached 30C, but temperatures rarely got higher than 30C.

“Officially it is less likely because the weather stations MetService have are at Whenuapai and Auckland Airport, which are much cooler than in downtown Auckland.”

A lack of wind in Auckland was contributing to the hot weather, but a few cloud build-ups could prevent higher temperatures later in the day, Mr Duncan said.

The east coast of the North Island, from Gisborne to Hawkes Bay, is experiencing temperatures in the low 30s and the rest of the North Island was warm.

Mr Duncan said the South Island was not as warm with a fair bit of cloud and rain on the West Coast.

Christchurch was 24C at lunchtime.

ADDITIONAL
As of 2pm Auckland remained officially at 28 degrees while private stations are reporting temps from 27 to 33 across Auckland. The ‘feels like’ temperature – which WeatherWatch.co.nz uses when heat and humidity combine in summer – is currently 33 to 35 degrees over Auckland out of the breeze in the calm.   Auckland can continue to heat up until about 3:30pm but often after that temps no longer climb much – 30 degrees is still possible officially, but looking a little less likely than it did at noon in our view.

– Image / NZ Herald, Greg Bowker

– NZ Herald + WeatherWatch.co.nz