Climate & Weather

Information about past climate is obtained from piecing evidence together from various sources.

NIWA's High Intensity Rainfall Design System (HIRDS) offers planners and engineers more certainty about the frequency of high-intensity rainfall events, enabling them to better design stormwater drainage, flood defence systems and other vital structures.

Waikato exhibits a range of climates due to the variety of landscapes in the region.

We provide an overview of New Zealand climate data for use in school projects.

Developing probabilistic scenarios of expected future regional climate changes.

Temperature trends from 1930s to present day

The topography of the North Island has a profound effect on the weather of the Bay of Plenty region.

NIWA’s climate scientists can now confirm what you may have suspected. After carefully poring through more than a century’s worth of data, it has been officially determined that winter 2022 was Aotearoa New Zealand’s warmest and wettest on record.

These datasets are available in a range of formats.

Eastern North Island
Gisborne, Napier, Masterton
Sheltered by high country to the west, this zone enjoys a dry, sunny climate. Warm dry settled weather predominates in summer. Frosts may occur in winter. Typical summer daytime maximum air temperatures range from 20°C to 28°C, occasionally rising above 30°C. High temperatures are frequent in summer, which may be accompanied by strong dry foehn winds from the northwest. Extreme temperatures as high as 39°C have been recorded. Winter is mild in the north of this region and cooler in the south.