On 1 July 2025, NIWA merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand.

Climate & Weather

Understanding our variable and changing climate is critical for managing resources and reducing risks.

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    HIRDSv4 Usage

    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

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

    Ideas for projects using climate data

    Education Resource
    Ideas for projects using climate data
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    Mean monthly wet-days

    These datasets are available in a range of formats.
  • Native forests absorbing more carbon dioxide

    Media release
    New Zealand’s forests and other land areas may be absorbing up to 60% more carbon dioxide than has been calculated, with much of this uptake likely occurring in native forests, NIWA scientists have discovered.
  • Bay of Plenty

    The topography of the North Island has a profound effect on the weather of the Bay of Plenty region.
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    Climate change, global warming and greenhouse gases

    Climate data and common terms explaining the causes and effects of climate change.
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    Bay of Plenty

  • Understanding and predicting floods and their impacts

    Feature story
    Floods are not unusual in New Zealand, but those that hit us early this winter broke records. Why did they occur? Should we expect more? Can we predict future floods?
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    'Eleven-station' series temperature data

    Research Project
    Temperature trends from 1930s to present day
  • Winter 2020 – NZ’s warmest winter on record

    Media release
    New Zealand has just experienced its warmest winter on record, according to official NIWA climate data.