Summer was New Zealand's third-hottest on record
Tuesday, 5 March 2019
New Zealand has just experienced its third-warmest summer in history, according to official Niwa climate figures.
The Niwa Summer Climate Summary, showed that above average sea temperatures around the country were the main driver of the heat, as it meant that warm air wasn't cooled off by sea breezes.
Tasman Sea saw a marine heatwave, and that also affected coastal areas of Hawke's Bay and Canterbury at times.
The warmest summer on record was in 2017/18 and the second warmest was 1934/35. Both summers also saw significant marine heatwaves.
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The top temperature of summer went to Hanmer Forest with 38.4 degrees Celsius on January 31 – the warmest on record for this station.
Hamilton and Tauranga went for 36 days straight without rain – both experiencing their third-longest dry spell on record. Nelson had a dry spell of 40 days, its fourth-longest on record.
In addition to the warm seas, summer air flow patterns also favoured warm temperatures with a distinct lack of southerlies throughout the season.
Hot air masses originating from Australia led to prolonged hot conditions throughout much of New Zealand to the end of January. The dry and sunny weather was influenced by a central Pacific El Niño event.
Several locations across the country observed record or near record high daily maximum and minimum summer temperatures during this time.
The latter part of summer saw soils drying out making conditions severely to extremely dry in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Manawatu-Whanganui, Taranaki, Tasman and Nelson. Drought is now present in Nelson, Tasman and Buller.
However, summer got off to an unsettled start with frequent thunderstorms and heavy rain which caused slips and flooding around Christmas.
Summer highlights:
Highest temperature 38.4C, Hanmer Forest on January 31.
Lowest temperature -1.4C, Tara Hills on February 25.
Highest one-day rainfall 200 mm, at Milford Sound on January 19.
Highest wind gust 182 kmh, at Cape Turnagain on January 27.
Sunniest spots: Richmond and Appleby – 355 hours for January, a new record.
Of the six main centres in summer 2018, Tauranga was the sunniest, wettest and warmest, Dunedin was the coolest and least sunny, and Christchurch was the driest.