An Air New Zealand Plane Flies Over Mount Victoria
IN PHOTO: An Air New Zealand plane flies over houses in Mount Victoria as it approaches Wellington airport, October 7, 2011. Reuters/Marcos Brindicci

New Zealand's rising temperatures has driven Kiwis to seek relief from the scorching heat in parks and beaches. Pukaki Aero near Twizel recorded the hottest temperature over the weekend at 33.4 degrees Celsius.

According to New Zealand's MetService, temperatures rose to more than 30 degrees in several areas, mostly in South Island. Masterton was the hottest in North Island with a temperature of 30.2 degrees Celsius while Blenheim and Alexandra reached the 30-degree level over the weekend.

New Zealand Herald reported that the warmest places were mostly in Central Otago and the eastern parts of the South Island. The weather bureau said Christchurch had a temperature of 28.1C while Auckland hit 25.2C.

New Zealanders were driven to parks and beaches to either cool off or take advantage of the sunshine. The weather bureau has predicted warm and sunny weather to continue but warm South Island will soon get cooler with the cold front bringing in rain showers to Westland.

Hannah Moes, a MetService meteorologist, said that previously warm places in South Island will experience less heat in the coming days except Central Otago. Meteorologists expect the dry and warm weather to remain for at least a few days despite the incoming cold front. While there is rain in the West Coast, the weather bureau predicted it will only bring few showers in some places.

The MetService warned that farmers should not expect too much rainfall to counter the dry weather since forecast data indicates there will not be any "significant rainfall" anywhere in the country in the next few days. New Zealand weather forecaster Ken Ring said some snow will return in March in the midlands and north of the country.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's weather in 2014 was described by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as "unremarkable" with average temperature down to 12.8 degrees from 13.4C in 2013. Radio NZ reported that NIWA forecaster Chris Brandolino said Whakatane was the sunniest place in 2014 with 2,711 hours of sunny weather. Cape Turnagain was the windiest location with gusts recorded at 209 kilometres per hour.

Contact email: r.su@ibtimes.com.au