Whanganui shops' supplies under pressure as fans and umbrellas fly off shelves

Pools and other water-related items are in hot demand this summer. Photo / 123rf

The demand for outdoors gear and anything water-related is hotting up as Whanganui swelters in the summer sun.

Fans, umbrellas and water guns are just some of the things locals have been buying to help deal with the summer heat.

Whanganui has had temperatures consistently over 20C since Christmas, with the highest being 27.9C on January 4, MetService said.

Sunny's Wanganui said anything that can be filled with water or could be used in or around the water was extremely popular.

They sold out of pools about four weeks ago and have been out of water balloons for more than two months.

Items such as camping equipment, tents, pool noodles, umbrellas and other outdoors equipment have all been very popular.

An employee said one person was desperate enough for a pool that they travelled down from Rotorua trying to find one.

Crackerjack Whanganui store manager Tony Chegwidden said anything that could help people stay cool had flown off the shelves.

Fans, water fans, insect repellent, sunscreen, pool noodles and water guns were popular items for local shoppers.

"Especially since New Year's. We still have stock, it just depends how long it will last for," Chegwidden said.

"Quite honestly, it has just blown out of the doors as people try to keep cool.

"We have sold a heap of swimwear too. We have a pretty good deal on swimwear at the moment. The feedback we are getting is that people are just buying them as tops because they are so much cooler than a normal shirt.

"Water guns, pool noodles, they are just rocketing out. It was busy before Christmas and it certainly hasn't stopped."

The NZ Herald's science reporter Jamie Morton explained why Kiwis might be feeling particular beat by the heat this summer.

When temperatures rise, as they have markedly since the weekend, we shed heat through the evaporation of sweat from our skin, which should occur smoothly when there's little moisture in the air.

Sweating depletes fluid that could have been used elsewhere in the body, which leaves us feeling sapped of strength and energy, which is why it's important to stay cool – and hydrated.

This isn't a problem when we have had time to adapt to the warmth, but sudden spikes in temperature can have wide-ranging effects on our body's normal biological cycle, or biorhythm, with implications for our mental, physical and emotional state.

When biorhythms are disturbed by higher body temperatures it can affect sleep quality and stress levels, impacting our decision-making and reaction times, and sometimes making us more irritable.

Risk factors such as age, obesity, heart disease or poor circulation can make some people more vulnerable to these changes.