Temperatures hit 27deg in rare late-March high

The sun heads to the west in mid-afternoon looking landward from the Marine Parade ocean viewing platform. PHOTO/WARREN BUCKLAND

Forecasts of one of Hawke's Bay's hottest late-March days on record didn't quite meet the mark today, falling just short of predictions the temperature would reach 29-30deg.

National weather agency MetService provisionally reported the highest temperature in Hawke's Bay being 27.9deg in Hastings between 3pm and 4pm, but the hottest nationwide was 28.5deg at Timaru Airport betwe 1pm and 2pm. Temperatures had passed 25deg in the Napier-Hastings area by midday.

Ironically the temperatures came as heavy rain was hitting the West Coast of the South Island, with forecasts of the climatic residue hitting Hawke's Bay with showers late on Wednesday and rain on Thursday and Friday, although temperatures would still reach into the mid-20s.

A spokesman for climate analysts NIWA said the temperatures were unusual in Hawke's Bay for the last week of March, the highest he found for the second half of the month being 31.9deg at Whakatu on March 21, 2002.

Numerous early-March temperatures over 30deg have been recorded, the top 10 for Napier being 31.7deg or higher, and the top 20 March temperatures for Hastings, all in the first three weeks, were all 29.6deg or higher.

Most recently a temperature of 33.1deg was recorded in Napier and Hastings on March 8, 2016.

The mini late-March heatwave is far from isolated to New Zealand.

According to Perth Now website, a temperature of 48.1deg in Roebourne (1550km north of Perth) on March 10 was the hottest official March temperature ever recorded anywhere in the World, eclipsing a record set in Mexico 44 years earlier.

Tasmania had one of its hottest March days eight days earlier when the digits clicked over to 39.7deg at Cape Bruny.

There was also a record for the month in Mysuru, India on March 7, and unusually hot early-Spring temperatures have been experienced in parts of North America with Seattle-Tacoma in Western Washington state posting the hottest day for the month in 125 years of record-keeping , a March 19 high of 79deg fahrenheit (26degC).

The UK is also having one of its hottest March climates, after a record high February temperature last month.