Warmest start to a year, ever

AUCKLAND: The balmy first three months of 2018 has given New Zealand its hottest recorded start to a year, as mean temperatures soared to 1.75degC above average over the period.

The scorching start came amid our hottest summer on record and also included the sixthwarmest March ever observed in the country.

Niwa’s justreleased climate summary for last month reported the threemonth period was 1.75degC above the 1981 to 2010 average.

That beat even early 1998, when one of our history’s biggest El Nino events was still meddling with the weather, and temperatures came in at 1.51degC above average.

Last month was characterised by significantly higher pressure than normal to the east of New Zealand, which combined with a fading La Nina system to push more northeasterly winds than usual over the country.

These warm, humid air masses, combined with the remnants of the marine heatwave in the Tasman Sea, influenced higher than usual temperatures over the country, as well as some heavy rainfall events.

Temperatures were either ‘‘well above average’’ or ‘‘above average’’ nearly everywhere.

Only isolated parts of Tasman and Southland experienced nearaverage temperatures.

As was observed in February, the number of record and nearrecord night time temperatures was even greater than the number of record and nearrecord day time temperatures.

That was due to the combination of a lingering marine heatwave and warm and humid northeasterlies, which kept overnight temperatures on the high side and left many of us sleepstarved.

March rainfall was spatially patchy across New Zealand, and heavy rain led to flooding in some areas.

Levels were highest — more than 149% above normal — in the central North Island, the eastern North Island south of Napier, Kapiti Coast, Nelson, South Canterbury, North and Central Otago, and Fiordland.

Rainfall was above normal in Northland, the southern half of the North Island, and Tasman, but below normal in isolated patches of Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, East Cape, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Southland.

— NZME