Mid winter magic – a very sunny July in many areas
- Sunshine: Extremely sunny in the west and south of the South Island, as well as western areas of the North Island, compared to July normal.
- Rainfall: Rather dry overall. Well below normal rainfall in the southwest of the North Island, Otago, and the Tasman District. Well above normal rainfall in Gisborne, northern Hawkes Bay and north Canterbury.
- Temperatures: Near average temperatures for most regions; below average temperatures for the Waikato, the Central Plateau, Wellington, Wairarapa, and coastal Otago.
July 2010 was characterised by higher than normal pressures over the country, with lower pressures to the northeast of the North Island. The frequent highs brought clear skies, dry conditions, warmer afternoons but colder mornings to many regions. Southeast winds frequently affected New Zealand over the month, and the effects of these were very clear – western regions of the country were extremely sunny and very dry.
Sunshine totals were well above average (more than 125 percent of normal) on the West Coast, in Fiordland and Southland, and across much of Otago, as well as for the Kaipara, Waikato, Taupo, and Ruapehu districts. In all other regions of New Zealand, July sunshine totals were also up, being above average (more than 110 percent of normal) everywhere except for Gisborne (where they were near normal).
Overall, July 2010 was rather dry in many regions. Well below normal rainfall (less than 50 percent of normal) was recorded in the southwest of the North Island (Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Taupo, Bay of Plenty), as well as in Otago and the Tasman district. In contrast, rainfall was above normal between 120 and 150 percent of normal) in Gisborne, northern Hawkes Bay, and parts of north Canterbury. The rainfall in these areas was caused by two storm events, affecting Gisborne and Hawkes Bay on the 6th/7th, and north Canterbury on the 23rd/24th. Elsewhere, July rainfall was below normal (between 50 and 80 percent of normal), except for Wairarapa, southern Hawkes Bay, Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Kaikoura, and Fiordland, where close to normal July rainfall was recorded (80 to 120 percent of normal).
Mean temperatures were close to average (within 0.5°C of average) in many regions. Above average daytime temperatures were offset by below average nighttime temperatures (with both caused by the predominance of clear skies). The exceptions were Waikato, the central Plateau, around Wellington and the Wairarapa, and coastal Otago, where mean temperatures were below average (between 0.5°C and 1.2°C below average). There were very small pockets of above average temperatures in western parts of Northland, Nelson, Westland, and Fiordland (between 0.5°C and 1°C above average). The New Zealand national average temperature was 7.7°C (0.2°C below the 1971-2000 July average).
Further Highlights:
- The highest temperature was 19.0°C, recorded at Kaikohe on the 29th (a new July record).
- The lowest temperature was -9.6°C, recorded at Hanmer on the 12th.
- The highest 1-day rainfall was 140 mm, recorded at Franz Josef on the 31st.
- The highest wind gust was 141 km/hr, recorded at Cape Turnagain on the 27th.
- Of the six main centres, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch the coolest, Wellington the wettest, and Dunedin the driest. Tauranga was the sunniest of the six main centres.
Full report
Full details of the July 2010 Climate Summary
Climate statistics table
Climate statistics for July 2010
For further information, please contact:
Ms Georgina Griffiths – Climate Scientist– NIWA National Climate Centre, Auckland, Tel. (09) 375 4506 (work) or (027) 2936545 (mobile); or
Dr Andrew Tait – Climate Scientist – NIWA National Climate Centre, Wellington, Tel. (04) 386 0562 (work) or (027) 327 7948 (mobile)