Whanganui stays frosty overnight, records temperature 5C lower than average

Whanganui had a frosty Wednesday morning. Photo / Bevan Conley

Clear skies and low winds led to a frosty Wednesday morning in Whanganui, with overnight temperatures more than 5C lower than average for this time of year.

MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon said temperatures in Whanganui City got as low as 1.2C.

The average overnight temperature in the region for August is 6.8C.

“You’d definitely be feeling it,” she said.

Further inland in Waiouru, temperatures dropped well into the negatives, with an overnight low of -7.2C on what was a particularly cold night for the central North Island.

Wotherspoon said the low temperatures were caused by a lack of overnight cloud cover and relatively low winds.

“It means the land cools down the air without any mixing happening from the wind and you get all of the heat radiating up without any insulation from the cloud.”

Wednesday night was expected to be similarly chilly, with temperatures forecasted to drop as low as 2C.

However, Wotherspoon said the region was expected to warm back up gradually as the weekend approached.

“Things start ticking up towards the weekend ... just as the winds start to pick up on Friday to get a bit more mixing happening and stop those really cold overnight temperatures.

“It’ll still feel cool for the next few days, they’re gradually going up.”

Overnight lows on Thursday and Friday were forecasted to be 4C, while on Saturday it was expected to double to 8C, before dropping on Sunday to 6C.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.