550 people cram into Frimley pool in attempt to beat Hawke's Bay heat

Summer Coulter, 11, Alyssa Coulter, 8, Hine Grant, 11, Lita Martin, 13 and Sky-Lily Griffin, 2, cool of at Frimely Aquatic Centre. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay's scorching temperatures have people heading to pools in droves to cool off.

A spokesperson for the Napier Aquatic Centre said it had 440 people through the doors on Monday, and had stayed open late.

She said it was impressive given it was the first day back at school for many kids. On an average school day, 180 people visit the aquatic centre.

The numbers did not include the splash pad outside the aquatic centre, which is free to use.

She said the busiest part of the day was in the afternoon, as people finished school and work.

The weekend was also busy with 500 visiting on Saturday and 300 on Sunday.

In Hastings people also headed to the pools for a cool dip.

1600 people decided on Monday that Splash Planet was the best place to cool down.

Frimley had 552 people through the doors, and Swim Heretaunga in Flaxmere had 140.

People also headed to the beach. Director of lifesaving at Westshore surf life saving club Brian Quirk said the beach was busy when he visited at 5.30pm.

He said regional patrols ended on Friday.

He said Westshore was a relatively safe beach to swim at, but it was important to always check for rips before swimming anywhere in the ocean.

The hot weather is set to continue until Friday, although it is not expected to be as hot as Monday's 35C scorcher.

Napier and Hastings will see temperatures in the high 20s Wednesday and Thursday, and hit 31C on Friday, before cooling down for the weekend, with 23C and 22C expected on Saturday respectively.