Hottest day this summer

Locals flocked to Brighton Beach yesterday, in what may well be the last hot day of this summer. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery.

The mercury rose above 30degC on many of the MetService’s unofficial temperature gauges around Otago yesterday, including 32.8degC which was recorded at Dunedin’s Otago Museum about 2.30pm.

Residents donned shorts and T-shirts, and flocked to beaches and parks in their hundreds, to make the most of the sweltering sunny weather which has been sparse this summer.

But the MetService has warned the fine spell may be short-lived.

A MetService meteorologist said the long-term forecast was for cooler than average weather over the next few months, and yesterday’s hot weather may be the last we will see for this summer.

As if to enforce that prediction, the MetService has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain in Fiordland and Westland, and severe northwesterly gales in Fiordland, Southland and Clutha today and early tomorrow.

He said a complex trough with several fronts is expected to move on to the South Island from the Tasman Sea this morning, then over the North Island tomorrow.

A strong, moist northwest flow ahead of this trough would bring a period of heavy rain to the west of the South Island, he said.

About 80mm to 140mm was expected to fall in Fiordland today, and residents were advised to watch for rapidly rising rivers and streams, and possible surface flooding and slips. Northwesterly gales were likely across much of the South Island and the lower parts of the North Island.

The strongest winds were likely about Fiordland, Southland and Clutha today, where severe northwest gales could gust up to 130kmh in exposed places.

He advised residents that winds of this strength could bring down trees and powerlines, damage unsecured structures and make driving hazardous.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz