Canterbury swelters in blistering heat

By SCOTT MacLEOD

A heatwave has struck Canterbury bringing record temperatures and ill-tidings for farmers, with little indication the weather will ease in coming days.

At Darfield, west of Christchurch, the mercury nudged 41C on New Year's Day, setting a record for a January temperature in New Zealand.

The furnace follows the driest December in Canterbury history, parching the fields and causing headaches for farmers - especially in the northern part of Southland.

"It's brown here," said Lumsden farmer Margaret Kreger-Price. "The soil is a grey colour. It's packed into the ground and there's big cracks like there's been an earthquake."

Farmer Noel Jones reckoned Thursday was the hottest day he had experienced in his 75 years.

Standing in his paddocks just outside Darfield, Mr Jones saw the water pipes to his cattle troughs fight a running duel with thirsty stock. The pipes barely held their own.

In Darfield's Horndon St, resident Sandy Smith opened windows, closed curtains and locked herself inside to ride out Thursday's scorcher.

"It was like being under a heat-lamp. It was too hot to stand on the grass. It just seemed to get hotter in the evening - you haven't got the energy to do anything."

Darfield's temperature peaked on Thursday, but it was only during the weekend that meteorologists realised a record had been set.

A senior climate scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Jim Salinger, said the recording was only the second occasion in reliable climate recordings since the 1860s that the temperatures of 40C or more had been reached in New Zealand.

The highest recording was 42.4C, at Rangiora on February 7, 1973.

Weather experts blamed the scorcher partly on the Southern Alps, which had forced a westerly wind to squeeze like a sponge and shed its moisture before sweeping over the Canterbury Plains.

Dr Salinger, said the phenomenon was called the Foehn Effect and had added 10C to temperatures.

There was some relief over the weekend as the mercury dipped into the mid-30s, but Dr Salinger said there could be a repeat.

Most farmers the Herald spoke to yesterday said reports of a disaster were exaggerated, but there was no doubt the drought was hurting. There is no forecast of any significant rain over the next week.

A field officer for Federated Farmers, Philippa Deazley, said some farmers were already feeding their stock when they would normally wait until April.

Stock would be under-weight and there would be a shortage of feed if the drought continued.

"When the dollar's up and you're trying to produce as much as you can, this doesn't help," she said.

Forecasters at Blue Skies Weather and Climate Services predicted little rain for the South Island's hydro lakes for the next four months. About 2900 gigawatt hours was stored, 93 per cent of normal.

Coal stocks at the Huntly station are better than usual and it is possible the winter will see rare exports of power from the North Island to the South Island.

Meridian Energy said last month that it was using its South Island water cautiously.

The heatwave has not affected the North Island, which is enjoying mild weather in the mid-20s with fresh sea breezes.

Southern heatwave

* Darfield's 41C on Thursday was the hottest January temperature recorded in New Zealand.

* It is only the second time a temperature has topped 40C.

* The first was 42.4C, at Rangiora, in February 1973 - the highest temperature recorded in New Zealand.