Science Centres: Climate
January
December's climate
Global setting & climate outlook
Feature article
Predicting soil water balance
Relationship between measured soil moisture content at Winchmore,Canterbury.
The daily time series of the observed and modelled soil moisture.
Knowing how much water is available in the soil is a key aspect of managing farm livestock feed budgets and pasture irrigation. Measurements of water content in the pasture root zone are essential to determine the water-holding characteristics of different soils.
A monthly newsletter from the National Climate Centre.
January 2007 – Number 91
December – one of the coldest first months of summer in 60 years. Low rainfall in the north of both the North and South Islands, but wet in the east of the South Island.
New Zealand climate in December
Rainfall (click to enlarge).
Temperature (click to enlarge).
December was unusually cool for the first month of summer, due to more frequent than normal southerly winds. Air temperatures were 2 to 3 °C below normal in many places for much of the month. The national average temperature of 13.7 °C was 1.9 °C below normal.
Global setting and climate outlook
Sea surface temperatures around New Zealand
New Zealand SST (click to enlarge).
Sea surface temperatures in the New Zealand region continued to cool in December to 0.8 °C below normal for the month and 0.3 °C below normal for the October to December mean.
