Annual

Science Centres: Climate

Annual climate summaries from 2000 to the present.

Issues

Annual Climate Summary 2011

New Zealand national climate summary 2011: A year of extremes.

Download the full report [PDF 0.5 MB]

Annual Climate Summary 2010

New Zealand national climate summary 2010: Settled and warm.

2009

New Zealand’s climate for 2009 was characterised by frequent see-saws in temperature. Heat waves occurred in January and the start of February; May was the coldest on record; October had its lowest temperatures since 1945; and August was the warmest August ever. In individual months (especially September and November), daily temperatures frequently broke long-standing records, with extremely cold temperatures often occurring within a week or so of record hot events.

2008

Tuesday, 13 January 2009
2008: sunny and warm, but a rollercoaster year for extremes
New Zealand’s climate for 2008 was sunny and warm, but a rollercoaster year for extremes, according to NIWA’s National Climate Centre.
It was sunny or very sunny over much of the country, with near record or record sunshine totals recorded in the central North Island, parts of Hawke’s Bay and the south of the South Island.  The national average temperature was of 12.9°C during 2008, milder than normal.

2007

Thursday, 10 January 2008
2007: much drier than average in many places, but disastrous floods in Northland. Drought, destructive tornadoes, windstorms, variable temperatures
New Zealand’s climate for 2007 was marked by too little rain in many places, and record low rainfalls in some locations. Rainfall during the year was less than 60 percent of normal in parts of Marlborough, Canterbury and Central Otago, with some places recording their driest year on record. Parts of the south and east, Bay of Plenty and Wellington recorded one of their sunniest years on record too.

2006

Thursday, 11 January 2007
Summary

Severe winter snowstorms
Floods, wind storms, destructive tornadoes
Variable temperatures, yet sunny overall

Erratic and sometimes extreme, New Zealand’s climate for 2006 will probably be most remembered for one of the severest winter snowstorms in decades, a very windy spring, and a cold start to summer late in the year.

2005

Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Summary

Much warmer, with more anticyclones and less wind than normal
Very low rainfall in the South Island
Catastrophic floods and extremely high rainfall in Bay of Plenty; Destructive tornadoes; An unseasonable late snowstorm

New Zealand’s climate for 2005 was marked by too little rain in some places, and too much in others.

2004

Monday, 10 January 2005
Summary
Very stormy at times
Devastating floods and extremely high rainfall in several North Island regions
High winds and late winter blizzards
Very wet in some areas and cool
The New Zealand climate record of 2004 reflected a nation prone to extreme climatic events. Forest fires, flooding assessed as the worst in living memory, tornadoes, blizzards, hailstorms and persistent storms with gale force winds characterised a year of dramatic climate extremes.

2003

Thursday, 8 January 2004
Summary
Many extreme events
Record low rainfall and cool in parts of Otago; wet in Coromandel
Record sunshine in the South Island and in the lower North Island
A cocktail of severe weather events and climate extremes involving very dry autumn conditions in many areas, extensive flooding and late snow storms made 2003 a very notable year climatically, says Senior Climate Scientist Dr Jim Salinger of the NIWA National Climate Centre. Overall the year featured many new climate records and weather extremes.

2002

Thursday, 9 January 2003
Summary
Numerous extreme events and El Niño returns
Low rainfall in Bay of Plenty; Marlborough and Nelson cool inland
Mild in Waikato and the northern South Island
Average or above average sunshine
The past year will be remembered for its high number of severe weather events and climate extremes, according to Senior Climate Scientist Dr Jim Salinger of NIWA. Overall, 2002 featured many new climate records and weather extremes. Analysis of the year’s climate showed new records being set in many months for rainfall, temperature, and other climate extremes.

2001

Wednesday 9 January 2002
Summary
Extremely low annual rainfall in the eastern South Island and parts of the lower North Island, despite wet end-of-year conditions
Severe summer–autumn drought, mid-winter freeze
Many other extreme events
For the first year of the new millennium, New Zealand’s climate records continued to tumble. Senior climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) analysis of the year’s weather showed new local records being set in some months, both for average and extreme temperature.

2000

Tuesday 9 January 2001
Summary
A sunny and slightly warmer than normal year
Very wet in Canterbury and Otago
More anticyclones but many extreme events
The first year of the 21st century produced a wide variety of climate extremes and the second warmest winter since records began in the mid 1850s, according to a review of annual statistics by NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).