NZ winter sixthwarmest on record

WELLINGTON: If you have not dug too far into the firewood this year, there is a reason — New Zealand just had its sixth-warmest winter on record.

Figures released by Niwa yesterday show winter temperatures were above or near average for most of the country — and well above average in North Canterbury and a few other isolated inland spots.

Mean temperatures for New Zealand were near average during June and above average during July and August.

The nationwide average temperature for winter was 9degC — 0.6degC warmer than the 19812010 average, and the sixth warmest in more than a century of records.

Near average mean temperatures were recorded in Auckland (11degC or 0.4degC above normal) Hamilton (9.3degC or 0.1degC above normal) and Tauranga (11.2degC or 0.5degC above normal).

The other three main centres posted above average temperatures — 10.2degC in Wellington (0.9degC above normal and its thirdwarmest winter on record), 7.5degC in Christchurch (1degC above normal) and 7.8degC in Dunedin (0.6degC above normal).

It was a particularly warm winter in North Canterbury, where Cheviot, Medbury and Waiau each recorded their warmest winter on record.

Well above average winter temperatures — reaching 1.2degC or more above the winter average — were also observed in Taupo, Arthur’s Pass and Roxburgh.

The highest winter temperature was 22.3degC at Kaikoura on July 21, while the lowest was 10.4degC at Mt Cook Airport on June 3.

The season got off to a relatively settled start for much of the South Island and record or near record low rainfall totals for June were recorded in several places.

In contrast, northern and eastern parts of the North Island bore the brunt of heavy rain which resulted in significant flooding about East Cape.

During July, there were more northwesterlies than normal, which delivered mild temperatures to the country and abundant rainfall to the western South Island.

For eastern areas, however, July was much drier than usual.

There were more northwesterlies than normal in August, bringing ongoing dryness for many parts of Canterbury and Otago.

Throughout the season, the polar jet stream was weaker than normal to the south of the country, which stopped longlived cold periods and contributed to a lack of snow for some ski areas in the South Island.

Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest, wettest and sunniest, Dunedin was the driest, Christchurch was the coolest, and Wellington was the least sunny.

While rainfall was below normal in eastern and inland parts of Canterbury and Otago, it was above normal in isolated parts of Marlborough, Kapiti Coast, Manawatu and the Bay of Plenty.

For the coming three months, Niwa had forecast average temperatures for everywhere except for the north and east of the North Island, where near average temperatures were most likely.

❛ Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest, wettest and sunniest, Dunedin was the driest, Christchurch was the coolest and Wellington was the least sunny