'Crazy' night-time temperatures as Wellington swelters

Monday, 15 January 2018

The Wellington waterfront is a picture of summer fun as temperatures remain high.

What a difference a year makes.

This time last year, Wellingtonians were complaining of their 'bummer summer', with chilly temperatures, rain and high winds.

Twelve months on, there are after-work queues to get to the beach at Oriental Bay, the nights are almost too hot to sleep, and on Sunday an ambulance crew had to switch vehicles in Wairarapa because it was too hot to treat patients in the back of one of them.

Stanley Solomon performs a backflip by the diving platform on the Wellington waterfront on Monday afternoon.

The figures tell the story dramatically: Sunday's lowest night-time temperature was 18.7 degrees Celsius; last year the mean maximum day-time temperature was 18.6C for all the first 11 days of January.

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Lyall Bay was still full of swimmers on Monday evening.

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MetService meteorologist Tui McInnes said Sunday's overnight minimum of 18.7C was 'crazy for Wellington. As a Wellingtonian, I'm not used to going to sleep at night with temperatures in the high teens.

The shadows were lengthening, but it was still warm on Lyall Bay beach.

'At night we still don't have strong winds to disturb that, so things don't cool down as much.'

The sunny days and sleepless nights are likely to continue until Friday, as northerly winds from the tropics deliver hot, humid air to the capital.

A family cooling off in Whairepo Lagoon, central Wellington, on Monday.

Weather-dependant businesses have been making hay after last year's shocker. Kaffee Eis owner Karl Tiefenbacher said the hole-in-the-wall store by Frank Kitts Park was churning through more than 170 litres of gelato on a daily basis.

'Every day we are pretty much selling out of everything we have on-site.'

Hot weather and warm ocean temperatures have fuelled formation of storm clouds in the lower and central North Island.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said traffic jams were developing regularly as residents flocked to the beach after work, with some queues stretching from Oriental Parade to the railway station.

'The tailbacks and the delays are longest between about 5pm and 6.30pm … Our advice is that if you want to take a soothing dip, then it's best to maybe find a car park in the CBD and then walk to Oriental Bay – otherwise you'll be sitting and sweating and getting agitated in traffic,' he said.

Temperatures cracked 30C in the Hutt Valley on Sunday, and in Wairarapa at Wellington Free Ambulance crew had to abandon the vehicle they had driven over the hill from Wellington because it had no airconditioning for patients in the back. They swapped it for one based in Masterton that had aircon.

Spokeswoman Diane Livingston said most of Wellington Free's vehicles had air conditioning, and it made sure they were deployed on hot days – 'especially in the Wairarapa, which is typically a few degrees hotter than this side of the hill'.

It's not only humans who have been struggling in the heat. Masterton pet owner Jane Bunny said her animals were behaving strangely, and struggling to settle at night.

'It's like monsoon weather. It's so humid, it's like being in India. There's no point in getting in the shade because the shade's just as hot.'

The warm weather is expected to continue across the Wellington region, with maximum temperatures predicted to be in the mid 20s for the next week to 10 days.

In Wairarapa, temperatures of close to 30C can be expected later in the week.