The heat is on …..

Lake Karapiro on January 4 when temperatures reached 34.7 degrees

If you thought it was scorchingly hot in Waipā last week, it sure was – and a Niwa meteorologist says it is going to get hotter.

The temperature gauge hit 34.7°C at Niwa’s Lake Karāpiro station on January 4, easily beating Waipā’s hottest day last year of 30. 9°C on January 14.

Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll. Credit: Stuart Mackay, NIWA

Meteorologist Ben Noll said temperatures across the country were last year on average one degree higher than the previous year and the warmest year on record.

“Be prepared for more hot weather though,” he said.

Niwa has three Waipā stations at Waikeria, where readings were first taken last year on February 7, Karāpiro and Hamilton Airport.

Stats for 2021:

  • Hottest day – Waikeria, 29°C, February 21, Karāpiro, 30.9, January 14, Airport, 29.6, February 4.
  • Coldest day – Waikeria, -3.7, July 14, Karāpiro 0.7, August 10, Airport -3.7, August 10.
  • Driest month – Waikeria April, 50mm, Karāpiro February, 12mm, Airport, February, 42mm.
  • Wettest month – Waikeria October, 140mm, Karāpiro March, 145mm, Airport September, 178mm.
  • Windiest month – Waikeria February and November average wind speed 7.6kms/hr, Karāpiro May and September 7.2, Airport October 13.3kms/hr.
  • Frosts – Waikeria 14 May/June 4, July 9, August 1, Karāpiro none, Airport 17, May 3, June 5, July 7, August 2.

More Recent News

International flights return to Waipā

Champagne corks are popping across the Waikato today with confirmation that direct flights between Hamilton Airport and Australia are back. Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas, has announced it will offer three return flights per week…

Media release in the gun

A Cambridge Community Board member has taken a swipe at Waipā District Council for championing debt rather than reducing rates’ inflation. Andrew Myers, who is also a member of the Fonterra co-operative council, was responding…

A better-off college

Pouring better-off funding into Ōtorohanga College is paying huge dividends, principal Lyndsay Kurth says. Ōtorohanga College received $1.64m of the first tranche of better-off funding allocated via the Ōtorohanga District Council as part of the…

Applause for Arikinui

News of the appointment of Te Arikinui Nga wai hono i te po as new leader of the Kīngitanga was greeted with joy amongst the tears from the tens of thousands at Tūrangawaewae, who farewelled…