Beachgoers and surfers flocked to Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. Photo / Luke Kirkness
Beachgoers and surfers flocked to Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. Photo / Luke Kirkness
It's very likely to be a hot and sticky summer in the Bay of Plenty.
Climate experts warn an agonising combination of marine heatwave conditions and northeasters will cause high heat and humidity this summer.
Temperatures have a 70 per cent chance of being above average in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Auckland and Northland regions, according to Niwa's latest seasonal climate outlook.
There is also an increased risk for dry spells, like the previous two summers, with rainfall totals likely to be near normal.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said the warmer the air is, the more humid it can feel.
The warmer the atmosphere is, the more water it can hold without forming clouds or rain, Clark said. The tropics are often the most humid areas because the temperature is warmer.
Swimming is one way to beat the heat. Photo / Alan Gibson
"For us in New Zealand, we get these humid air masses or this feeling when we get a lot of northerlies. It's usually just the set-up of a lot of northerlies.
"During La Niña, we normally get more humid air masses, that's another thing to look out for. We're in a good regime after two back-to-back La Niña, being set up for more humid masses coming in from the north."
According to Niwa, moderate La Niña conditions continued last month and would continue to affect the climate in the coming months.
"Temperatures are very likely to be warmer than average in the north of the North Island and the west of both islands. Above-average warmth and periodic humidity is expected from November, a change from the relatively cooler conditions experienced during October."
University of Waikato senior lecturer Martyn Beaven is based at the Adams Centre in Mount Maunganui and replicates hot and humid conditions there to prepare athletes for sticky situations overseas.
In its state-of-the-art heat chamber with the temperature set to 35C and around 75 per cent humidity where the air feels thick against your skin like a warm blanket, Beaven said humidity slowed down the body's ability to cool down.
Sweating is the body's way of cooling down. In hot temperatures, people sweat and the action of droplets evaporating off the skin cools people down but on a humid day, sweat has a harder time evaporating.
University of Waikato senior lecturer Martyn Beaven. Photo / Luke Kirkness
"Humidity is essentially water in the air and when it's high, sweat doesn't evaporate as easily or it drips off you."
In other words, when the air has a high moisture content sweat cannot evaporate and that's why our bodies feel hot and sticky, Beaven said.
If not treated, people can become dehydrated, fatigued, suffer muscle cramps and in more serious cases, suffer heat stroke, heat exhaustion or faint.
It might seem like a no-brainer but drinking water is Beaven's biggest tip to sweat less and turning on a fan creates a breeze to help sweat evaporate.
