Nation swelters in record February temperatures

It was a scorcher alright. Last month was the eighth warmest February since records began in the 1860s and in stark contrast to the same time last year.

This year, temperature records were broken at Queenstown and Alexandra and other parts of the South Island while dozens of areas in the North Island had near-highest February temperatures including Levin, Palmerston North, Wellington, New Plymouth, Ohakune and Whakatane.

In Alexandra, it reached a stifling 38.7C on February 5, one of those rare occasions when New Zealand breaks the old 100deg F mark (37.8C.)

"It was totally different from last year when we had the floods," said National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research senior climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger. For the first 10 days of last month, Murchison roasted on 30C each consecutive day while temperatures were 5C to 9C above average in many places around the country.

Auckland was only slightly above average for the month while Wellington was 1.5C above normal.

The average temperature across the country was 1.3C above normal.

The contrast with last year couldn't be greater than in Manawatu, which had half its expected rainfall last month. At the same time last year, the district was under water, hit by 100-year-plus floods that drove 1000 people from their homes and caused millions of dollars of damage to agriculture.

Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Wairarapa also had half their normal rainfall.

So, what about an Indian summer? Dr Salinger said the official forecast for the next three months would be released tomorrow and he would not be drawn on whether temperatures would stay high into April and May.

Signs yesterday were not good. Wellington and Dunedin shivered in 15C while Invercargill hit 14C as a cold southerly change moved over the South Island. Auckland reached 22C under sunny, blue skies.

The weather should remain reasonably settled through to the weekend over much of the North Island, said MetService forecaster Ramon Oosterkamp.

In the South Island, the southerly change would be followed by brisk westerlies bringing some rain during the weekend.

"It will certainly have more of that autumnal feel," he said.