KEY POINTS:
The heatwave that saw New Zealand swelter in temperatures of up to 30C yesterday is going to get hotter.
MetService duty forecaster Oliver Druce said Canterbury would bear the brunt of the boiling conditions, but the entire east coast would be very hot.
While some forecasters are tipping Canterbury to break its all-time record of 42.4C, set in Rangiora in February 1973, Druce said the MetService was forecasting a high of 35C for Christchurch today. However, conditions would be hotter inland, with Culverden, Hororata, and Darfield possibly nudging 40C.
Weatherwatch analyst Philip Duncan said we had "all the right ingredients" for a temperature of up to 40C today - clear skies and warm air carried from Australia by northwesterly winds.
Duncan said it was likely to be hottest in north Canterbury.
The hottest parts of the North Island would remain around 30C, although humidity would make it feel much more.
"If you have a high of 30 in Auckland, with 70 per cent humidity it will feel like 41 degrees."
Duncan said the temperatures were not unusual for the time of the year, but the sustained period of hot days was.
Nights had been two or three degrees warmer than usual, but high humidity, particularly in Auckland, made it feel even warmer.
Masterton was the hottest place in New Zealand yesterday with an official temperature of 30C.
The mercury peaked at 29C in Gisborne and 27C in Auckland and Hawke's Bay.
MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said it might feel hotter but those were the air temperatures.
"You could hold a thermometer to the ground and you'd probably get a reading of 40 degrees. But that's not what we're forecasting."
Beaches around the country were busy yesterday, with bigger crowds forecast for today as the temperature rises.
Lifeguard patrol captain at South Piha, on Auckland's west coast, Tony Featherstone, said about 1000 people were on the beach during the peak period yesterday, mostly well-behaved. But while beachgoers are revelling in the sun, farmers on the East Coast are bracing for another drought.
Hawke's Bay sheep and beef farmer Bruce Wills said farmers in the driest parts of the country were facing their third serious drought in as many years.
The financial strain has proved too much for some, with 800 sheep farmers leaving the industry last year, and others selling animals they could not afford to keep.
Wills plans to shear 1000 sheep tomorrow, two weeks early, to help them cope with the heat.
Last month brought New Zealand's hottest day since 1998, with the official temperature hitting 35.7C in Christchurch on January 8.
During the hottest day in 1973, Christchurch poultry farmers lost 26,000 birds in the heat and freezing workers walked off the job because of the heat.
The fine spell is set to break in the coming days, with the MetService forecasting rain and possible gale force winds for Otago and Southland this evening.
Duncan is predicting rain in the North Island between Monday evening and Wednesday.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA
