Not as hot, but still hot - Rotorua's second hottest day on record easing in the weekend

The weather is a hot topic at the moment and with good reason as Rotorua reached the second hottest day on record yesterday.

At 31.4C, it fell a mere .1C below the record of 31.5C of maximum temperature in any given month between today and 1964.

Although not as hot as yesterday, the heatwave would stick around, and today was expected to reach up to 29C in Rotorua and locals could expect a few more hot days.

"But it's warmer than the usual temperature for this time of the year," said Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll.

Tomorrow was expected to be slightly cooler again, with a forecast of 26-28C maximum and could potentially have cloud come through.

Noll said a southerly wind could bring some light rain on Saturday morning but it would not stick around.

Locals had tried out a range of things to cope with the heat, from cooling off outdoors in the water, icecream, or staying inside with airconditioning.

G B Teat, a local company that specialises in heating and refrigeration services, had a spike in airconditioning repairs as people found it was not keeping them as cool as it should. They had 10 repairs scheduled in for today alone.