Winter was NZ’s warmest for third year in a row

IT was a threepeat — New Zealand has just had its warmest winter on record yet again, after having consecutive record warm winters in the two years prior.

Of the 10 warmest winters on record, six have now occurred since 2013.

Niwa forecaster Nava Fedaeff said the nationwide average temperature for winter 2022 was 9.8degC (1.4degC above the 19812010 average), and it was the first winter on record where the temperature anomaly exceeded +1.2degC for all three months of the season.

She said 84 locations experienced a record or nearrecord warm winter and our coastal seas had their warmest winter on record, with persistent marine heatwave conditions.

It was also the country’s wettest winter on record, causing severe flooding and slips across the country, and 42 locations experienced record or nearrecord rainfall.

Among them were Oamaru (386mm), Cromwell (203mm) and Lauder (167mm) which recorded their highest winter rainfall totals; and Wanaka (362mm), Queenstown (430mm) and Clyde (163mm), which recorded their secondhighest.

Despite the record nationwide winter temperature, Otago and Southland’s temperatures were near average, with just Middlemarch recording its secondwarmest winter and Dunedin (Musselburgh) recording its thirdwarmest winter.

Nearrecord daily maximum winter air temperatures were set at Queenstown (20.1degC on August 5) and Stewart Is (17degC on June 7), and nearrecord daily minimum air temperatures were set at Middlemarch (11.2degC on June 23) and Dunedin Airport (8.6degC on June 23).

Record winter extreme wind gusts were also recorded at Wanaka (115kmh on August 5), Middlemarch (165kmh on June 30), Alexandra (141kmh on August 5) and Clyde (102kmh on August 5).