It’s cooking in the capital
thomas.manch@stuff.co.nz
Forget the ‘‘bummer summer’’ now two-years gone – Wellington has broken average temperature levels and confirmed a scorching season is under way.
Yesterday marked the sixth day this summer the capital exceeded 25 degrees Celsius. This threshold is generally broken five times in an average summer.
And the promise of warm seas, as well as northeasterly winds blowing in from the subtropics, brings the possibility of more 25-plus days to come.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) meteorologist Ben Noll said Wellington recently had summers when the mercury failed to push past 25C for the entire season, including 2011-12 and 2013-14.
‘‘The so called ‘bummer summer’ of 2016-17 only had 25 degrees one time.
‘‘The last two years, we’ve had very warm ocean temperatures around New Zealand … because we are an island: as the seas go, we go.’’
Warm northeasterly winds blew over land into Wellington yesterday, bringing with it the high temperature.
Wellington’s maximum of 28.3C wasn’t the hottest in the region – Martinborough reached a high of 29.3C and Masterton 28.8C.
Across the harbour, Upper Hutt had a maximum of 27.3C, and in Paraparaumu it sat at 25C.
Similar warm winds, and warm seas, can be expected for the remainder of the season.
‘‘That will continue to support above average warmth on the whole … we would expect more days with warmer-than-average temperatures.
‘‘That could be good news for those looking to hit the beach and enjoy the outdoors, but certainly rainfall is something to keep an eye on,’’ he said.
Noll said some rain was forecast, however, which was important for farmers.
MetService expects cloudy drizzle to cover the capital today, and a high temperature of 22C.
Showers will linger for the remainder of the week as will northerly winds and temperatures above 20C.
Niwa said earlier this week that 2018 was New Zealand’s second warmest year on record. The next few months are shaping up to be another ideal Kiwi summer.
Niwa released its climate summary for January to March yesterday, and things are looking up.
The next three months are likely to be warmer than average, with the North Island in particular likely to get some balmy days.
January through March 2019 mean air temperatures are most likely to be above average (50 per cent) for the north of the North Island and about equally likely to be near or above average for the remaining regions of New Zealand. Normal rainfall is likely for most regions.
The climate summary also said sea surface temperatures were much warmer than average around New Zealand and warmer conditions were forecast. This was likely to be a dominant driver of New Zealand’s climate.
For the current tropical cyclone season (November 2018 to April 2019), Niwa’s Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone Outlook indicates that the risk for New Zealand is near normal. On average, at least one ex-tropical cyclone passes within 550 kilometres of New Zealand each year.
The summary’s release follows Niwa’s announcement on Tuesday that Kiwis had their hottest January on record in 2018.