12 Noon Update

Temperatures are again soaring towards 30 today under mostly clear skies and hot winds.

As of 11:30am it was already 27 degrees in Gisborne, 26 in Hastings, 24 in Christchurch, Timaru & Oamaru, 23 in Palmerston North and 22 in Tauranga and Whitianga.  In Auckland it’s 21 and climbing with some places likely to reach 24 or even 25 by the end of the day.

“Summer has arrived and it’s arrived with a punch” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.  “Even the so called ‘wet’ areas are starting to dry out with the grass starting to turn brown”.

2008 is ending on a hot and dry note as large highs in the north and hot northerlies everwhere else continue to dry New Zealand out and send temperatures rocketing to 30 and the late 20s.

According to weatherwatch.co.nz’s Daily Debrief yesterday’s high went to Hastings with 30 degrees, with 28 in Gisborne, 27 in Napier and 26 in both Tauranga and Christchurch.

Mr Duncan says most of the North Island is beginning to get hot now with big temperatures continuing in the South Island’s east and north.

“The longest day of the year isn’t for another 2 and a half weeks and it’s not until after that, that typically the hot weather peaks – usually a further 8 weeks later in February”.

Even our evenings are remaining hot.   Yesterday at 6pm it was still 25 degrees across the Waikato and Coromandel, 24 in Wanganui, 26 in Gisborne and Christchurch and 23 in Auckland and Timaru.

Despite a number of current heavy rain warnings by our government forecaster most of the wet stuff won’t reach dry farms across the country.  “The bulk of the rain is being confined to the western half of the South Island”.

Mr Duncan says if the weather patterns of November and early December continue for the remainder of the month Christmas should be a sunny and hot one. 

“Of course that’s only guessing so early in the month but certainly we’re in a pattern for a hot, dry, end to 2008/start to 2009”.

Today temperatures are again expected to reach 30 degrees inland across the east of both islands with highs in the mid to upper 20s for much of the country.