NIWA meteorologists say people living in the lower North Island and eastern South Island are likely to get the best views of the Matariki star cluster during the upcoming weekend.
A weekly update describing soil moisture patterns across the country to show where dry to extremely dry conditions are occurring or imminent. Regions experiencing significant soil moisture deficits are deemed “hotspots”. Persistent hotspot regions have the potential to develop into drought. This will be the final update of the Hotspot Watch for this season. Weekly Hotspot Watch updates will resume in the spring.
NIWA is leading a New Zealand partnership to map the South and West Pacific Ocean's seabed as part of a worldwide initiative to map the entire globe’s seafloor.
Clouds over the ocean, and how they trap or emit radiation from the sun, are partly influenced by the biology, biogeochemistry and physics of the surface ocean below.
Our Future Climate New Zealand is an interactive website that lets you to look at projections for a number of climate variables for New Zealand between now and 2100.
The NIWA and MetService assessment of named tropical cyclone (TC) activity indicates 9 to 12 named TCs could occur in the Southwest Pacific basin between November 2021 and April 2022. The seasonal outlook is for normal to slightly above normal activity in terms of overall named TCs in the region.
The NIWA and MetService assessment of named tropical cyclone (TC) activity indicates 8 to 10 named TCs could occur in the Southwest Pacific basin between November 2020 and April 2021. This seasonal outlook is for normal to below normal activity in terms of overall named cyclone systems in the region.
In the 2010 NIWA Report on the seven-station temperature series (Mullan et al., 2010), two alternatives were offered for the adjustment at January 1945 between the records for Hokitika Town and Hokitika Southside. An offset of -0.52°C (a negative value meaning the new site is colder) was calculated by comparing the changes at Hokitika from 1935-1944 to 1945-1954 with those at four comparison sites. An offset of ‑0.68°C was calculated from a direct comparison between the two Hokitika records from the overlap of 30 months for August 1943 to January 1946.
El Niño accounts for less than 25 percent of the year-to year variance in seasonal rainfall and temperature at most locations in New Zealand, however its effects can be significant.
Northern New Zealand
Kaitaia, Whangarei, Auckland, Tauranga
This is a sub-tropical climate zone, with warm humid summers and mild winters. Typical summer daytime maximum air temperatures range from 22°C to 26°C, but seldom exceed 30°C. Winter daytime maximum air temperatures range from 12°C to 17°C. Annual sunshine hours average about 2000 in many areas. Tauranga is much sunnier with at least 2200 hours. SW winds prevail for much of the year. Sea breezes often occur on warm summer days. Winter usually has more rain and is the most unsettled time of year.
Use our climate data to devise mathematics-orientated exercises for secondary school students. We also provide an overview of New Zealand climate data for use in school projects.
