THE HOTTEST DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 13, 17 January 1933, Page 9

THE HOTTEST DAY

32 IN THE SHADE

WELLINGTON SWELTERS

In recent years Wellington has not heen too kindly treated in respect- to its summers. Bnt amends are apparently being made this year, and the present summer is bidding fair to be one'by which subsequent summers will be judged for many years to come. Incidentally, a prophecy by the late Mr. Clement Wragg, famous for his longdistance weather forecasts, is being borne out. Many years ago he said that the summer of 1932-33 would, over the Dominion as a whole, show the beginning of a reversion to the typo of summers which at one time seemed' to be common to the Dominion, and fhat this progressive improvement would reach its culmination in 1935-36.

Certainly the - present summer has started well. Wellington had much better and much hotter weather for a couple of months or six weeks before Christmas, the hot spell culminating in particularly high temperatures on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately for holiday makers, there was then, a temporary break, but since then the weather has almost continuously been of a real summer type. Temperatures, during the last week especially, have been high, and yesterday was the hottest day that Wellington has had since 1927. At noon yesterday ' the shade temperature as recorded at Kelburn had mounted to 81.3 degrees,-but later in the, day the mercury rose slightly higher, and at 2.35 ,p.m. the thermometer reading was 82 degrees. In 1927 the temperature one day reached 84 degrees, but meteorological records in those days were taken at Thorndon, where readings would be slightly higher than they are at Kelburn. Therefore yesterday was probably just as hot as that hot day in 1927. But it was some six degrees cooler than a'certain day in February, 1895, when a maximum temperature of SS degrees in the. shade was recorded: that stands as the hottest day that Wellington has ever experienced since meteorological reeotds have been taken. At 4 p.m. yesterday the temperature had dropped slightly to 79 degrees. At the same hour a. similar temperature was recorded-at Farewell Spit, but no other place in the Dominion recorded such a high temperature at 4 p.m. The maximum temperature, readings at Kelburn during the last week have nearly all been on the high side, and were as follows:—Sunday, Bth January, 67 degrees; Monday, 9th, 68.4; Tuesday 10th, 74.1; Wednesday, 11th, 72.3 Thursday/12th, 77.3; Friday, 13th, 73.GSaturday, 14th, 67.7; Sunday, 15th, 79.2; and yesterday, 82. To-day although overcast and inclined to rain at times, is still very hot and muggy. The maximum temperature recorded this morning was 67.7 degrees. SUPERFLUOUS CLOTHES. ; That the clothes in which tho average man in Wellington garbs himself are not at all suitable when the thermometer fluctuates round tho eighties is obvious. Yesterday saw the discarding o± as much superfluous clothing as could conveniently and decorously be dispensed with, and .even then ,the average city worker was too hot Mere man envied the fair sex whose summer garb seems much more in accordance with the dictates of common sense. A bathe during the lunch hour was a popular diversion yesterday, and another bathe when the day's work was done, was also the order of the day. Ihe public baths, and Nature's own bath—the sea—were the most popular places m Wellington, with ice-cream shops a good second.

nnflllr ti°' tei rt mal Stcrdav that came under the ken of a "Post" reporter was one who had spent some six hours ™ni^ lnSl<H- a huge oil tank in the course of erection. It is a hot iob at any time, but yesterday it was Idjectnrely so, so much BOj that what the man said about it cannot be reproduced in print without fear of scorching the paper. °