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STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Tuesday’s temperature was also one of the warmest on record this summer across the country.
New Zealand’s highest temperature of 42.3 degrees Celsius in Rangiora in February 1973 remains in place, but some contenders came close to the mark on Tuesday.
Ashburton and Temuka reached the top 10 temperatures of all time in New Zealand, at 40.2C and 40.1C respectively.
Akaroa recorded his highest temperature ever, peaking at 38 ° C, while Cheviot also had his hottest day, tilting the thermometer at 39 ° C.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Ella Porter cools off the tide during Tuesday’s heat wave.
All fire permits were suspended in Canterbury Tuesday morning after firefighters spent the previous 24 hours containing a 31-hectare fire at Pines Beach in North Canterbury, and an earlier fire in the Redcliffs suburb of Christchurch.
READ MORE:
* Christchurch residents restricted to watering gardens every other day
* Parts of Christchurch called for water conservation as rain delays widespread restrictions
* Water restrictions for Banks Peninsula
JOSEPH JOHNSON / THINGS
Owner Darren Le Breton explains how close Monday’s Pines Beach fire came to destroying his family’s home.
While the heat may not be as extreme on Wednesday, with Christchurch’s temperature forecast at 34 ° C, the wind could be stronger, which could mean an even higher fire risk.
However, it would cool down later in the week when a cool shift to the southwest brought some rain on Thursday. The city was expected to hit just 22 ° C on Thursday and 16 ° C on Friday.
Kim Churchill in Amberley said she did some work outside on her lifestyle block before it got too hot Tuesday.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Jia Wang and her mother, You Chao Wang, enjoy a walk under the tide in Brighton to cool off.
“I was planning to go to the beach, but it was too hot to be outside, you can’t do much in this weather,” he said.
He ended up staying inside with his 3-year-old son, consuming frozen drinks and keeping the air conditioning on.
“We have been putting ice cubes in our dogs’ water and we just make sure our animals have enough water and shade if possible … we have chickens, cows and sheep.”
Churchill said the wind had picked up overnight, but what the area needed was some rain.
“I’m still waiting for some rain to fall for Thursday, it’s been a long time here.”
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Mr Whippy sat well with the adults at Cambridge Tce during the heat on Tuesday.
The heat also had ramifications for passengers on the Picton to Christchurch train after the rails heated up and expanded.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said speed restrictions were put in place on the Main North Line Tuesday afternoon “as a precautionary measure in response to the high temperatures in Canterbury.”
“This meant that the trip down the Pacific coast took about 90 more minutes to get to Christchurch.
“While we understand that the longer journey can cause some inconvenience to passengers, safety is paramount.”
NIWA
Previous heat records for Canterbury.
The spokesperson said speed restrictions were a standard safety practice used both in New Zealand and internationally in hot climates.
“Rails exposed to direct sunlight can be up to 20 ° C hotter than air temperature and can expand at high temperatures.”
When conditions hit in the mid-1930s in Christchurch and into Canterbury into the evening, Fire and Emergency (Fenz) urged people in Canterbury to be more vigilant about potential fire hazards.
The rise in temperatures came as the Christchurch City Council increased water restrictions from level 2 to 3 for Akaroa, Duvauchelle and Takamatua on the Banks Peninsula.
A council update said increasingly hot and windy conditions were putting pressure on water supplies.
“In hot climates and high winds, we can see these streams lose a liter of water per second due to their already low flow rates,” said Three Water and Waste council chief Helen Beaumont.
“When they only flow at several liters per second, that loss makes a big difference in how much water we can safely extract from them.”
