Whakatāne breaks record for hottest month since 1974, Briscoes sells out of fans in some Bay of Plenty stores

A major homeware retailer has sold out of fans at some stores after a record-breaking heatwave in parts of the Bay of Plenty.

The average temperature in Whakatāne was 21.6C in January – the highest since records began in 1974, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).

Tauranga, with an average temperature of 21.3C, had its fourth-highest January temperature since 1913 and Rotorua had an average temperature of 19.1C which was 1.4C higher than average.

People have reportedly been heading to retail outlets in a bid to combat the “warm, muggy and sultry nights”.

Briscoe Group managing director Rod Duke said its homewares shops were “very short of fans” and had “sold out in some stores after the record-breaking heatwave experienced in the Bay of Plenty”.

Duke said as residents try to keep cool at night the store was “unable to secure back-up supply” of fans or air purifiers.

Niwa said in a media statement that “out of the six main centres [cities] in January 2024, Auckland was the warmest and driest, Christchurch was the sunniest, Dunedin was the coolest and least sunny, and Tauranga was the wettest”.

“It was the hottest January on record for Whangaparāoa, Whakatāne, and Waikeria”.

Whakatāne has a new record temperature for January after last month came in at an average of 21.6C, according to Niwa. Photo / 123rf

Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll said “the overarching message is that most of New Zealand has experienced either above or well-above-average temperatures over the month to date”.

Niwa considered well-above-average anything above 1.2C – but many centres had sweltered in heat in excess of that mark.

“We’re not just talking one or two regions, but most of the country,” Noll said.

Nationwide, New Zealand recorded its hottest January – and month – on the books in 2018, with a toasty 20.3C mean that was 3.1C above the 30-year baseline average.

‘If it felt warmer at night - that’s because it was!’

Niwa climate scientist Gregor Macara said Tauranga and Rotorua had warmer than normal temperatures for January.

“Tauranga’s temperature was 1.5C higher than average and Rotorua’s was 1.4C higher than average,” Macara said.

He said Tauranga had 274 total hours of sunshine in January which was 110 hours more than last year.

Overnight temperatures in the city averaged at 16.6C. .

“If it felt warmer at night – that’s because it was!”

Niwa climate scientist Gregor Macara says Tauranga and Rotorua had warmer than normal temperatures for January. Photo / Niwa, Rebekah Parsons-King

Macara said elevated sea surface temperatures were contributing to the heat and climate change was underpinning the trend.

“Sea surface temperatures near the coast are higher than normal. Being an island nation our air temperatures are influenced by the surface temperature of the sea.”

Macara said global temperatures were steadily increasing overall which increased the odds of locations observing record or near-record high temperatures.

“There will increasingly be periods of cooler nights as we transition away from summer.

“The daylight hours shorten providing more time for overnight cooling.”

‘Warm, muggy and sultry nights’

MetService meteorologist John Law said January was a “very hot month” across the Bay of Plenty.

Law said this was thanks to a “persistent feed of air from the northwest”.

“While our daytime temperatures didn’t quite make a record, the highest last month in Whakatane was 30C compared to 33.3C in 2019.”

Law said the warm nights were a key factor in the overall monthly temperature statistic.

He said “warm, muggy and sultry nights” helped raise the overall average temperature for the time of year.

Tauranga reported a minimum temperature of 21.6C on January 20 – the same temperature as the “warmest night on record at that station since 1941″.

“The other factor that many people will have noticed last month was the high humidty which remained over the Bay, and much of the North Island, during the month.”

He said there was a “change on the cards this weekend” with “a much cooler night in store for Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning”.

Briscoe Group managing director Rod Duke says there has been a high demand for fans this summer. Photo / Dean Purcell

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.