Coldest summer day recorded

Complaints about bitterly cold conditions in Manawatu this month have been justified by a record-low temperature for March.

On Thursday morning, a weather reading from a Landcare Research site at Turitea revealed the temperature to be 0.5 degrees Celsius – the lowest temperature ever recorded in lower Manawatu during the true summer period, between the summer solstice and autumn equinox.

The previous low was 0.7C, recorded on February 22, 2003.

Glen Oroua resident Ian Cooper alerted the Manawatu Standard to the record low in a letter.

"City dwellers didn't experience the physical ground frost in the way rural residents did who live out on the flood plains," he wrote. "The ground frost at Glen Oroua was more like the ones we would expect to see in six to eight weeks' time."

With autumn officially starting this month, Mr Cooper recommended people start sorting out their energy needs for winter now.

Metservice forecaster Derek Holland said Thursday's weather was the coldest experienced in the North Island this year.

- © Fairfax NZ News