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New Zealand city braces for oppressive Singapore-style humidity
- Humidity in Auckland was set to hit a shirt-dampening 91 per cent on Monday, the same figure forecast for the tropical city state
- Conditions comparable to those experienced in the tropical latitudes are unusual for normally temperate New Zealand
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Hot, moist air from near the equator was lingering around the north of New Zealand on Monday, bringing balmy temperatures and soupy air to the country’s biggest city Auckland – making residents feel like they’d stepped off a plane in the tropics.
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MetService, New Zealand’s national weather authority, does not provide hour-by-hour humidity predictions, but according to Weather.com humidity in Auckland was set to hit a shirt-dampening 91 per cent on Monday, the same figure the website predicted for Singapore.
MetService observed that humidity in Hamilton, on the country’s North Island, on Friday hit 80 per cent with a dew-point – below which water droplets in the air begin to condense – of 21 degrees Celsius and a temperature of 24 degrees, comparable conditions to those experienced in the tropical latitudes and a far higher dew-point than is normal in New Zealand’s temperate climate.
Auckland is predicted to hit a high of 24 degrees on Monday with light winds and isolated showers developing in the afternoon, possibly heavy.
Tuesday is predicted to be partly cloudy with the same high and a few showers clearing in the evening.
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