Current Climate - February 2010

Overall, February 2010 was a very settled month, with more frequent anticyclones (‘highs’) affecting New Zealand than is usual at this time of year. This resulted in an extremely dry and warm February, for many regions of the country. There was a notable lack of unsettled weather during the month. Severe soil moisture deficits continued in Northland during February, and have now developed in parts of Auckland, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago.

Percentage of normal rainfall, February 2010.

End of month water balance in the pasture root zone for an average soil type, where the available water capacity is 150 mm.

Departure from average air temperature for February 2010.

Rainfall

Well below normal rainfall (less than 50 percent of normal) occurred in many regions of New Zealand.  Record low February rainfall totals were observed in Auckland, with less than 10 percent of normal rainfall observed.  It was also very dry in the other main centres.  In contrast, near normal rainfall was recorded in parts of Southland, Otago, the West Coast; Taranaki, and around Cape Reinga.

Air temperature

Temperatures were above average (more than 0.5°C above average) across all of New Zealand, except for a narrow coastal margin of near average temperatures, from Wairarapa right down to Invercargill.  Regions with well above average temperatures (more than 1.2°C above average) included central Auckland, Coromandel, the western Bay of Plenty, and the Central Plateau region, as well as much of the western South Island.  The New Zealand national average temperature was 17.7°C (+0.5°C above the long-term February average).

Sunshine

February was an extremely sunny month over most of the South Island, with sunshine totals well above normal (above 125 percent of normal) in Southland, Otago, parts of Canterbury, parts of the West Coast, and also around Cape Reinga. It was the sunniest February on record for Dunedin and Balclutha.  In contrast, it was a rather cloudy month for Auckland, the Waikato, and Taranaki.  For the remainder of the country, February sunshine totals were close to normal.

See our February 2010 climate summary.

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