Climate publications

The National Climate Centre issues monthly, seasonal and annual climate summaries and forecasts, as well as climate updates for the pacific islands.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Special Climate Statement - record warmth in the Tasman Sea, New Zealand and Tasmania

27 March 2018

Sea surface temperatures in the southern Tasman Sea rose to exceptionally high levels in late 2017 and early 2018. These temperatures were far above any others previously observed at that time of year in the region, and extended west from New Zealand to Tasmania and mainland southeast Australia. In parallel with this, land temperatures were well above average in areas near the Tasman Sea warm anomalies, with many records set both in New Zealand and in southeast Australia (especially Tasmania).

Download: Special Climate Statement - record warmth in the Tasman Sea, New Zealand and Tasmania [PDF, 1.5MB]

Climate Summaries

View annual, seasonal and monthly summaries of temperature, rainfall and sunshine data from across New Zealand.

Seasonal Climate Outlook

Air temperature, rainfall, soil moisture and river flow predictions for the coming season.

New Zealand Climate Update

Read a monthly summary of New Zealand's climate. Each issue includes information on the past month’s climate and soil moisture, an outlook for the next quarter, and background information on a specific aspect of New Zealand’s climate.

Island Climate Update

A monthly summary of the climate in the tropical South Pacific islands, with an outlook for the coming months.

Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone Outlook

A summary of up-coming tropical cyclone seasons, issued 6-monthly.

Regional climatologies

A regional climatology is a summary of the typical weather and climate of a region, based on historical data observations made at climate stations located within the region.

Hotspot Watch

This weekly update to helps media assess likelihood of extremely dry weather preceding a drought. Regions experiencing severely to extremely drier than normal soils conditions are deemed “hotspots”.