As spring dawns, health officials in Canterbury are preparing for potential summer heatwaves.
After heat records were shattered in Europe this year, experts say it may happen in New Zealand too.
The Continent baked, with the extreme weather linked to several deaths..
Now as we head towards our summer season, the warning is don't think it won't happen here.
"Heatwaves do cause extra deaths and a lot of illness. It will put immense pressure on general practices, it will put huge pressure on St John Ambulance and on the hospitals," said Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Hamish Sandison.
It's simply getting hotter, this year alone producing some scary stats.
"We've set 170 record high temperatures but just three record low temperatures. So that tells quite a story, that's quite a ratio," said NIWA Meteorologist Ben Noll.
Community and public health say it's time to prepare a plan.
"If we leave it until a heatwave comes we are too late. You get a very short window of opportunity in which to respond to a heatwave," Mr Sandison said.
Health officials plan to meet in Christchurch on Monday to discuss the trends of a warming planet and just what their response will be if a heatwave hits New Zealand.
Public campaigns are set to roll out closer to summer.
Mr Sandison said going to the beach or park or sunbathing during a heatwave is not what you should be doing as "heat is a risk to all of us".
He said we have to assume a heatwave could be a possibility.
For the past two years, summer nationwide has broken temperature records.
"In Canterbury itself often times seeing temperatures into the upper thirties a few times during the season." Mr Noll said.
NIWA expects to have a better idea of what this year holds in the coming months.
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