By STUART DYE and ALAN PERROTT
If you thought yesterday felt hotter than the weather forecast said, you'd be right.
Ask 11-year-old John Birch, a ballboy at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre in Auckland. As the on-court temperature hit 30C, he collapsed during the match featuring defending champion Greek Eleni Daniilidou and
medical staff advised him to take the rest of the week off.
The official MetService temperatures were normal for summer, but on centre court, on the streets and at the beach it felt like a scorcher.
That is because of the difference between how people experience heat and how it is recorded.
Weather thermometers measure the air temperature, but as a rule of thumb you can add 6C to the official temperature if you are in direct sunlight, as the air temperature does not change whether you are in the shade or not.
So while Auckland recorded a high of 24.6C yesterday, it felt much, much hotter.
Official temperatures elsewhere were Whangarei 25.7, Hamilton 25.5, Tauranga 27.1 and Rotorua 25.6.
The MetService is now considering introducing "real feel" temperatures - common in the United States - to reflect how hot people think it is.
Parts of New Zealand, especially Canterbury, are sweltering through a heatwave. A record 41C was set in Darfield.
But while Auckland was only officially in the mid-20s yesterday, some parts of the city were much hotter.
The Herald used a Dick Smith's Dual Temp Alert thermometer in similar conditions at different locations but got wildly varying results.
At a game of tennis in Westmere the reading was up to 42.7C. Takapuna Beach recorded 38.5C and Queen St 34.7C.
MetService operations manager Stephen Harris said the temperatures would have been affected by factors such as the concrete jungle effect in the city and the reflection of the tennis court.
Whatever it felt like, one thing is certain - it's all about to change.
A cold front is expected to hit the country on Thursday, although by the time it gets to Auckland it is likely to have petered out, bringing only more humidity.
Latest forecasts: nzherald.co.nz/weather
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