Climate & Weather

Among the multitude of New Zealand climate statistics there is one record that continues to be broken month after month.

Scientists analysing end-of-summer snowline survey photos have estimated that 13 million cubic meters of ice have been lost from just one glacier from 2016 to 2019.

The NCCRA assessment was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment and has identified the most significant risks we face from climate change. It will feed into the Government’s national adaptation plan.

Is today sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, or stormy? All of those things are part of the weather...

This is one of the most extreme drought events for Auckland in modern times and similar to one experienced in 1993/94.

Seven weeks of lockdown has provided evidence of how pollution can vanish overnight with benefits for the environment and individuals, says NIWA air quality scientist Dr Ian Longley.

Please note that this will be the final Hotspot Watch update for this season. Weekly Hotspot Watches will return in the spring.

For more than a century, a network of volunteers across New Zealand have been measuring the climate and weather and sending their observations each month to be entered into the New Zealand climate database.

Analysis of drought conditions across New Zealand this year shows it is one of the most severe on record for some regions.

Minor to moderate soil moisture decreases across the entire North Island with severe meteorological drought in parts of northern Auckland, Coromandel and southern coast of Hawke's Bay. Drier than normal conditions are still present in the top of the South Island but significant rainfall in the west.

Moderate soil moisture increases in the western North Island and in the Far North, while soil moisture decreases were observed along the east coast and Wairarapa. Many parts of the South Island saw small soil moisture increases during the past week, although small decreases were observed in northern Canterbury.