Karāpiro: where the mercury rose.
Karāpiro was the hottest place in the country last month when the temperature gauge hit 34.7°C on January 4.
Niwa meteorologist/forecaster Seth Carrier confirmed the area around the Cambridge lake was the national hot spot while also revealing Waipā temperatures for January were 1.5°C above average.
The district’s mean temperature for the month was 19.8°C at Hamilton Airport which also recorded the district’s second driest January on record – the driest was in 1955 – with only 6mm of rain.
Farmers have welcomed Waitangi weekend’s rainfall which greened up paddocks and filled water tanks.
Waikato Regional Council’s Tokanui – Farm Road and Puniu River stations near Te Awamutu recorded just over 61mm of rain while Niwa’s at Lake Karāpiro near Cambridge clocked 86.5mm and the MetService reported nearly 69mm at Hamilton Airport.
Out on the water
But MetService warns another long dry spell for the North Island is on its way with “sweaty daytime temperatures in the high twenties or early thirties.”
For the second year running, Niwa’s Waikeria station is out of order.
