Fans blow out door as city swelters

Air conditioners are buzzing, fans whipped into high and people have headed to local swimming holes to try to cool down from what has been a warmer and drier January than normal.

And the heat is to stick around for a bit longer, a local weatherman predicts.

On Saturday, Rotorua reached 29.2C, which followed the high of 30.8C on January 7. Recorded temperatures in the city so far this month have already been more than 3C above normal.

Springfield weatherman Brain Holden said normally in January average temperatures recorded were around 23C.

Since the 30.8C temperature, Rotorua has remained warm with daily highs of between 27C and 29.2C, he said.

Night time temperatures haven't offered much reprieve from the boiling days either, Mr Holden said.

"It's been uncomfortably hot ... it's stayed pretty unbearable. It just takes such a long time for the heat from the day to go."

While normally about 100mm of rainfall is recorded in Rotorua through January, only 2mm has been recorded halfway through the month.

As the heat turns up, so do the number of people looking for electric fans in an attempt to cool down.

Rotorua's Briscoes Homeware duty manager Yvonne Donovan said they had sold out of fans in recent days.

"In the whole lead up to this weather we have been selling fans. We've now sold out. People don't believe we haven't got any left."

There are a few fans left at other stores in the city though.

Mitre 10 Mega duty manager Rae Evans said a few hot shoppers had been in but they still had a few pedestal fans available.

Bunnings Warehouse has also had a rush on cooling fans to the point duty manager Blue Watts said they had no desk fans left.

Rotorua's Warehouse still has a small stock of fans available.

Meanwhile, Rotorua can expect a cloudy day today with a bit of drizzle tonight and a high of 24C, according to the MetService. Rain is expected to ease to isolated showers tomorrow, clearing by the evening. Wednesday should bring a fine day and a temperature of 22C.