Hot nor'westers tumble temperature records
Extremely hot nor’westers tumbled March temperature records in Canterbury and North Otago yesterday.
25 March 1998
The scorcher broke over 100-year old high temperature records in the Christchurch area, and almost threatened to topple the all time New Zealand March temperature record. Warmest was Christchurch Airport with 35.9°C, 0.1°C less than the New Zealand record of 36.0°C recorded in Ashburton on 10 March 1956.
The high temperatures were caused by warm airflow from the north west, off Australia, across a rather warm Tasman Sea, with heating from the foehn effect as the air crosses the Southern Alps.
New record high maximum temperatures recorded on 24 March 1998 were:
|
Location |
Maximum, °C |
Comments |
Records began |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Christchurch Airport |
35.9 |
Highest |
1951 |
|
Christchurch City |
34.4 |
Highest |
1864 |
|
Rangiora |
35.5 |
Highest |
1965 |
|
Akaroa |
35.4 |
Highest |
1978 |
|
Lincoln |
34.9 |
Highest |
1881 |
|
Oamaru Airport |
31 |
Equal highest |
1967 |
Near record high maximum temperatures recorded on 24 March 1998 were:
|
Location |
Maximum, °C |
Record, °C |
Records began |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ashburton |
34.0 |
36.0 |
1930 |
|
Timaru Airport |
32.9 |
33.3 |
1962 |
|
Dunedin Airport |
29.7 |
31.5 |
1962 |
The New Zealand record is 36.0°C at Ashburton on 10 March 1956.