> From the WeatherWatch archives
It’s getting to that time of the year when the sun is making an impact on unprotected skin on many people.
Skies don’t have to be entirely cloud free for us to burn over a short period of time and over parts of summer, overcast skies can also penetrate our skin.
Today sunshine should prevail over more than half of the country at some stage and the peak burn times are between the hours of 11 and 3 with northern New Zealand having the highest risk if mostly blue skies prevail.
Inland and central areas still have high readings and the far south has a low to moderate chance between midday and 1pm today.
Tourists continue to discover our sunshine harsh and often come ill prepared and suffer the consequences without much form of protection from the overhead conditions.
This was obvious once again during the latter stages of the Rugby World Cup when a number of visitors donned a pink or reddish shine.
We’re reminded during the warmer months by the Cancer Society to slip, slop, slap and wrap when we’re outisde during the most at risk times. Cases of skin cancer or melanoma are still on the climb in New Zealand and clothing and sunscreen protection is strongly advised where or whenever possible.
Pollen levels also remain moderate to high in many areas with nor’ west winds in the south not helping the situation for many hay fever sufferers.
The situation should start to improve slowly in November but not completely disappear and can even extend into the summer months.
Before you add a new comment, take note this story was published on 29 Oct 2011.
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