The day Napier hit 40C: Rail lines buckled, and people 'gasped for breath'

Old newspaper clippings from 1973 show the effects of soaring high temperatures. Photo / file

Think this week's been hot? In 1973, people were left "gasping for breath", rail lines buckled and workers walked out as temperatures in Hawke's Bay touched 40 degrees Celsius.

An article from The Daily Telegraph on February 8, 1973 said Napier temperatures hit 40.5 degrees Celsius at the airport the day earlier. The temperature measured in Hastings on the day was 37.9C.

The temperature beat the hottest recorded New Zealand temperature of 38.4C at the time, the newspaper wrote, presumably before it was confirmed that on the exact same day Rangiora in Canterbury hit 42.4C.

"Children fainted in Hastings and a man collapsed in Wairoa," the paper reads.

The heatwave brought fires, a lack of water described by one town clerk as "alarming", walkouts from manufacturing plants and freezing works and a "crisis situation for wildfowl and trout because of rivers and streams drying up".

In Hastings people were "gasping for breath, railway tracks buckled, and schools were closed because of the heatwave".

"Waingawa freezing workers also walked off the job and orchardists looked gloomily at apples baking on trees," the paper reported.

Many varieties were developing dark patches of sunburn from the continuing blistering heat and the senior horticultural inspector for the Department of Agriculture in Hastings, Mr W. Miller described the situation as "disturbing".

The Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society was planning a large-scale wildlife rescue operation and its president Mr M. A. J. Adams, says he already has "hundreds of volunteers".

Fast forward to 2020 and similar temperatures are doing similar things, albeit not as dramatic.

Sure enough, there's fires - one continued to burn off State Highway 50 near Tikokino in Central Hawke's Bay on Tuesday after another fire took near Ongaonga.

Water is again scarce.

There are currently restrictions and bans on taking water on 16 sites across Hawke's Bay, further restrictions are likely.

The Tukituki and Waipawa Rivers are on full ban, while a ban is imminent on the Ngaruroro River at Fernhill.

For urban residents, both Hastings District and Central Hawke's Bay are on level three water restrictions which means sprinkler use is prohibited, however, hand held hoses can be used on alternate days only, at limited times.

Napier City is on level two restrictions which means using sprinklers on alternate days, at limited times.

The article states that the high temperatures were caused by an unusually warm mass of air moving across the country.

The hot temperatures Hawke's Bay is facing this week are caused by warm air blowing from Australia, a MetService spokesman said.

The 1973 temperatures were considered a heatwave which created New Zealand's hottest temperatures on record of 42.4C in Rangiora.

Napier's February 7, 1973 temperature is not available in the National Climate Database, therefore Niwa was unable to comment on whether it really did hit 40C in Napier.