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from The Dominion Post....

Wellington sizzles in January heat

It's hotter, drier and less windy

By TIM DONOGHUE | 8:22AM - Monday, 26 January 2015

SIZZLING: Wellingtonians enjoyed the sun, surf and sand at Oriental Bay. — ANDREW BAILEY/Twitter.

EVEN the tide played ball at Wellington's Oriental Bay yesterday afternoon to conclude a perfect weather weekend in the capital.

Thousands of Wellingtonians crammed on to the bay for some fun in the sun yesterday to make the best of the stunner sunshine-packed weekend.

MetService confirmed yesterday was the capital's hottest day of the new year with the mercury hitting 27 degrees Celcius at Kelburn, hotter even than Paraparaumu, which reached 24 degrees Celcius.

A low tide about 4pm yesterday meant there was plenty of sand for the revellers to stretch out on the expansive beach.

Lifeguard Mike Stuart said he and his three colleagues, who were on duty, had few problems on the thronging beach.

“It's busy I can tell you that. But everyone's been well behaved and all is quiet. There's just been the odd cut but nothing to bother us. There's been loads and loads of people down here,” Stuart said yesterday.

Locals weren't the only ones impressed.

“It's our second trip down here and we've never seen weather like it in Wellington before. We'll be back as long as our son continues to live here and the sun continues to shine,” retired Scottish electrician Charley Anderson said.

HOT AND HAPPY: Scorching Bay drew huge crowds as the weather and a weekend joined forces. — MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ.

A GOLDEN SUMMER: Enjoying the hot weather at Scorching Bay yesterday were Charlotte Waalkens, Juliet Kendall, Lisa Bazalo and Rosie Hodson.
— MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ.

Wellington harbour was also a hive of activity.

The boys from Fergs Kayaks were flat out getting kayakers and stand-up paddle boarders out on to millpond-like water.

Boaties and yachties also entered into the spirit of the day by quietly mooring their craft beyond the fountain and swimming pontoons yesterday.

Kaffee Eis, a cafe overlooking the lagoon, and ice cream dispensers on Oriental Bay and at Frank Kitts Park had queues of people lined up waiting for their coffee fixes and cooling treats throughout the boiling day.

While stylishly-dressed women walked their white poodles while dodging the ‘Enormous Crocodile’ quad pedallers on the Oriental Parade promenade, hundreds of others passed their time watching youngsters leaping off the high dive platform at the southern end of the Taranaki Street wharf.

JUMPING FOR JOY: Harvey Brouard does a back flip from the diving platform at Wellington waterfront.
— MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ.

January hotter, driver, calmer

It's official: Wellington is basking in a January blessed with a perfect trifecta of higher temperatures alongside less wind and rain than the past 52 years.

Weather statistics confirmed yesterday what hordes already knew as they flocked to the beaches during a weekend of blue skies and scorching temperatures.

MetService forecaster Nicole Ranger said Wellington's January had been 1 degree Celsius warmer, a whole lot drier and less windy compared to annual average maximums recorded for the month since 1962.

The mercury hit 27°C yesterday, the capital's hottest day for 2015.

Depending how the final six days panned out, it could become a record-breaking January.

The highest average daily January temperature for Wellington since MetService began recording it in 1962 was 21°C. To date, the average maximum for this month at Wellington Airport was 22°C. While only a single degree different, it was one of three weather factors that had turned the capital into summer-central.

So far this month, Wellington had its lowest ever recorded January rainfall since MetService began recording statistics.

“With a week to go, we've had just 2.2mm of rain at the airport. The lowest rainfall on record was 6.8mm of rain out there in January 2001,” Ranger said.

Average wind levels were also lower at Wellington Airport this month than in the previous 52 years.

“So far this month, we have had an average wind figure [there] of 24 kilometres per hour.”

Since the early 1960s, the average mean wind speed figure at Wellington Airport was 28km/h.

“So, so far this month, we are down an average 4km/h on the average mean wind speed,” she said.

The city's maximum temperatures during the latter half of last month ranged from 20°C to 24°C, with Christmas Eve claiming the highest December temperature of 24°C.

This month, the mercury on most days had passed 20°C.

Ranger said the highest Wellington Airport temperature recorded for the month since 1962 was 28°C in 1975, a few degrees more than this weekend, when temperatures at Wellington Airport soared to a balmy 26°C.

Wellington's hottest ever recorded temperature is 31.1°C.

Around the North Island, the mercury rose to roasting levels in some places over the weekend, with Masterton Airport's temperature on Saturday reaching 30°C and only Taumarunui beating it at 30.3°C.

“The big high over the country over the past few days had been good for Wellington,” Ranger said.

She predicted weather would remain above 20°C for the Wellington region until Thursday and a slightly cooler 19°C for Friday.

School pupils returning to school throughout the region this week could expect sunny weather through until tomorrow night, with partly cloudy weather forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Parched pastures and gardens around the region would get a reprieve on Saturday, when the first rainfall was predicted to arrive, coinciding with the end of the summer holidays for some students.

The Wellington Rural Fire Authority said the fire risk was high from Wellington to Otaki.

Meanwhile, rural firefighters had been working round the clock in many parts of the tinder-dry eastern South Island from Marlborough to Canterbury and further south into Central Otago.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/65410171/Wellington-sizzling-in-January-heat