Hottest January in Christchurch's history

Christchurch has sweltered through the hottest January since records began in 1863.

The city's beaches have been busy over the summer as people try to escape the heat.

NIWA's monthly climate summary  released this afternoon shows the city recorded a mean temperature of 19.9 degrees in January, which is 2.7 degrees more than the normal.

Mean temperatures were well above average throughout New Zealand.  Notably, over half of New Zealand’s regularly reporting stations observed mean temperatures at least 3 degrees above their January average.

Overall January 2018  was New Zealand’s hottest month on record with a mean temperature of 20.3 degrees. 

NIWA says January 2018 is the fourth month in the 21^st century to have a nationwide temperature more than 2 degree above average (after February 2016, May 2016 and December 2017).