KEY POINTS:
What a week weather-wise! 100 per cent humidity, humidex readings in the north around 40 degrees, Christchurch's second coldest day this summer, flooding rains in Wanganui/Palmerston North, Whenuapai's highest ever recorded temperature and Auckland's hottest ever February night since overnight records began in 1961! All of this wrapped up in to 4 days.
It's no wonder weather rates higher than 'sex' according to Google's top searches!
I've lived in Auckland for 10 years and it was the hottest I've ever felt it this week. However, it's worth noting that yesterday's record breaking high was in West Auckland. I work in the CBD and when I left work around 4pm yesterday it was pretty hot outside but certainly didn't feel record breaking.
In Howick and at Auckland Airport it was only around 27/28 degrees that hour. I drove out to the end of the nor'western motorway (I wasn't weather chasing, I swear!!). When I step out of the car the heat just hit me. The last time I felt a hot, relatively dry, heat like that was when I was in Central Otago one summer. The difference in heat between Auckland CBD and West Auckland yesterday was a good 4 degrees.
I think if I had been on holiday I would've enjoyed this week's heat a lot more...it was such lazy mooching weather! My dog wanted to exercise, he was all full of energy...but a short walk and he was completely exhausted! I was even worse for wear.
I got an email from a colleague of mine, Steven, at the Radio Network in Napier yesterday saying Aucklanders should basically toughen up - "If you want to feel real heat, come to the Bay".
I've also read that quite a bit online on the Herald site, when they asked what you do to sleep in this heat. In fact, one person said something along the lines of "climb into bed, turn off the light, close eyes, sleep - easy". That person obviously found this week very pleasant.
Of course what is hot and what isn't hot is completely subjective. The high humidity this week was what made the heat feel so much worse. It's this very reason why we use the Humidex, when it matters, in our Auckland forecasts. Today, for the first time this week, we haven't needed to include them as those muggy conditions have finally eased.
The humidex was created by Meteorologists at Environment Canada (Canada's MetService) to better measure how hot it's going to feel...and yesterday's 32.4 - and other temperatures this week in the late 20s in Auckland - didn't come close to reflecting how hot it really felt.
So the humidex is actually a calculation...it's not just a made up number. Humidity and temperature combined to give a reading that might help us humans understand how hot it's going to FEEL on our skin...rather than how hot the air will be measured on just a thermometer. Yesterday, in West Auckland, it was around 38 degrees....around 35 in the city - according to the humidex. Earlier in the week, when it was exceptionally humid, it felt more like 38 in the city during the hottest time of the day - but the air temperature was only in the late 20s.
Now to my friend in Napier, where temperatures were recently in the late 30s, we can finally compare heat!! Steven, I'll see your 38 degrees with 7 per cent humidity (which is due to the dry nature those nor'westers have in Hawkes Bay) and raise you Auckland's 32 degree heat with 45 per cent humidity. The "feels like" temperature is actually exactly the same with this calculation. In Canada they use the Humidex frequently in summer... other countries use the Heat Index - which is more conservative.
At the end of the day it's subjective though. It was certainly a hot, stuffy, week across northern New Zealand and when I was talking to my mate Bob McDavitt at MetService he was telling me he was in bliss with this weather. I, on the other hand, have had terrible sleeps and no motivation around the house. Some think it's hot, others find it just right. So humidex or heat index - it doesn't matter...it all comes down to your interpretation of what "hot" is. Either way though, the weather this week has certainly affected our lives in some way...even if it was just something to talk about!
