The heat has certainly been with us over recent days and weeks and it was a similar story in January 1998 when orchardists were hit by the direct harsh summer sun.

In South Canterbury, apple growers were facing up to losing 40% of their crop due to sunburnt fruit and the story was similar in other parts of the region with many saying it was the worst situation for over 20 years.

Now with the recent high temperatures we can bear this in mind.Fruit tends to burn in temperatures above 30 degrees on sunny and calm days within about 10 to 15 minutes.It doesn’t take long at all and with what we’ve experienced throughout much of this January, let’s hope there isn’t a repeat performance of last decade.

Going back a lot further on this day in the 19th century, 1869 to be precise, folk in Taranaki were given a bit of a fright, as violent thunderstorms rattled the region and particularly affected New Plymouth. Apparently local tracks and walkways were turned into mud paths as torrential rain accompanying the storm caused locals a number of headaches and turned footpaths into streams!

It shouldn’t be the case today as the forecast for the Taranaki region is for mostly fine weather today and just some harmless cloud about, with the risk of a little drizzle tonight. It should be warm though with temperatures in the mid 20s by early this afternoon.