Cold student flat science experiment: Beers freeze inside lounge overnight
A Christchurch student flat has discovered just how cold the past week has been after beers left inside their flat froze overnight.
Christchurch dipped to -3.7C overnight on Thursday, following several consecutive frosty mornings as an Antarctic air mass gripped much of the country.
The city endured temperatures several degrees below its average overnight minimum.
George, who lives in the Sockburn student flat ‘the Rat Trap’, said he and his flatmates decided to leave one beer sitting in their living room overnight as an experiment.
George (right) laughed off the cold snap. Photo / Anna Heath.
“We were just having a few beers after footy training. We decided we’ll keep one out for the morning, see if it’ll freeze over, and sure enough it did – slushy beers next morning.”
George laughed off the discovery, saying friends had dubbed the recent cold snap “the great freeze”.
He said the flat was “actually not too bad” and pretty modern, despite being a typical student flat.
Christchurch dipped to -3.7C overnight on Thursday, freezing the bar in a student flat living room. Photo / Anna Heath.
The freezing beer was the latest sign of a week of unusually cold weather with frozen pipes, record electricity demand and widespread frosts across the country.
George said the cold had been relentless.
“Even the weekend prior it got down to -5C, I think.”
The flat does not have a fireplace, meaning the students have relied on electric heating to stay warm.
Photo / Anna Heath.
“Especially the last couple of weeks we are racking up [power bills] a bit,” he added, referring to the household’s power bill.
Despite the icy conditions, George said his family had taken the frozen beers in good humour.
“They think it’s quite funny actually,” he said.
The cold snap started to ease over the weekend as warmer, wetter weather spread across the country.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.
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