{"id":227257,"date":"2026-01-10T21:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227257\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:23:08","slug":"weather-heat-warnings-as-temperatures-set-to-hit-high-30s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227257\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather: Heat warnings as temperatures set to hit high-30s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Summer<\/p>\n

\nFile photo.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King\n<\/p>\n

Hastings is forecast to hit 37C on Sunday, and neighbouring Napier an almost equally sweltering 36C, as a wave of heat – and heat warnings – spread across the country.<\/p>\n

But several warnings for rain and strong winds are also in place, particularly in the South Island and Wellington.<\/p>\n

Heat alerts, first introduced in 2021, were in place for various locations, including Whang\u0101rei, Whitianga, Tauranga, Whakat\u0101ne, Rotorua, Taup\u014d, Gisborne, Napier, Blenheim, Kaik\u014dura, Christchurch and Timaru.<\/p>\n

Hastings however had the highest forecast peak of 37C in the afternoon, down one degree from the 38C forecasters previously predicted.<\/p>\n

That would still exceed 2025’s peak 35.6 degrees<\/a>, recorded in Kawerau on 7 December.<\/p>\n

Hastings Deputy Mayor Michael Fowler said<\/a> people should avoid spending too much time in the sun.<\/p>\n

“Keep out of the heat, keep hydrated, look after your neighbours, look after your pets.”<\/p>\n

The district council had taken measures to prepare for the heat. It had closed Te Mata Park and told staff and contractors to avoid work that could create sparks – but residents also needed to ensure they were prepared to deal with near record temperatures, he said.<\/p>\n

“Hastings used to get very excited about a 35C heat. Well this is going to be more than that… People need to be absolutely vigilant about this and take it seriously.”<\/p>\n

The top of the North Island – including Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and the East Cape – would be “fine and warm” with “patchy morning fog and cloud about Auckland and Northland”, MetService said.<\/p>\n

The lower half of the North Island would have “cloudy periods. Showers about the Tararua Range, and a few elsewhere in the evening. Northwest gales for Wellington and Wairarapa.”<\/p>\n

“Avoid lighting outdoor fires or doing any activities that may cause sparks or heat, and ensure any previous fires are fully extinguished,” Fire and Emergency said in a warning on its website.<\/p>\n

Despite the heat, several weather warnings were in place across the country.<\/p>\n

Most of Westland, and Fiordland north of Doubtful Sound, were under orange-level heavy rain warnings until 9am Sunday, as were the Westland ranges and headwaters of the Canterbury lakes until 9pm.<\/p>\n

Orange-level strong-wind warnings were in place overnight for much of inland and high-country Canterbury, and they took effect at 3am for Marlborough, and at 6am for much of the Wellington region, where severe gale northwesterlies gusting up to 120km\/h in exposed places were forecast.<\/p>\n

Thundery rain was possible in the Buller\/Grey districts, while Westland and Fiordland could expect “rain with heavy falls and possible thunderstorms”.<\/p>\n

Rain and scattered showers were forecast to fall in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, with possible thunderstorms in the Queenstown Lakes District.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File photo. Photo: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King Hastings is forecast to hit 37C on Sunday, and neighbouring Napier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-227257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}