Higher than average temperatures in New Zealand

Don't mention the herd of elephants in the room!

Here we are - what we all know to be true, but without any reference to abrupt climate change or that this is a worldwide phenomenon.

For these idiots it's all good news. That's what happens when you have a climate change sceptic reporting.

Temperatures have been 0.9 -1.0C above the mean and remember, swe're surrounded by all that ocean

Yesterday i saw a report of two Dutch scientists skiiing in their underwear in the Canadian Arctic becuase it was so hot and then going missing because, presumably, they fell through the thin ice

NZ: Mild winter to follow golden summer

Climate scientists have good news for those mourning the end of the golden summer, with a mild winter predicted for the entire country

And for the bland report from NIWA

Overview

April 2015 gave New Zealand its first real taste of winter for the year, with a polar outbreak in the middle of the month that saw temperatures plummet nationwide, and brought snowfall to very low elevations for southern parts of the South Island.  Overall, the month was characterised by air pressures which were higher than normal to the northeast of New Zealand and south of Australia.  This pressure pattern resulted in a weak north-westerly flow anomaly across the North Island and a weak south-easterly flow anomaly over the South Island.  The northward retreat of the subtropical belt of anticyclones allowed numerous fronts to pass over the country during the month, and these delivered bouts of heavy rain to many parts.  It was particularly wet for southern, central and western parts of the North Island where rainfall totals for the month were well above normal (> 149% of the April normal).  Rainfall was either above normal (120-149% of April normal) or well above normal for western and northern parts of the South Island, and eastern and inland parts of Canterbury south of Christchurch.  In contrast, it was a very dry month for Northland, Gisborne, northern Hawke’s Bay and coastal North Canterbury where April rainfall was well below normal (< 50% of the April normal) or below normal (50-79% of the April normal).  Rainfall was near normal (80-119% of the April normal) for remaining areas of the country.  Such contrasting rainfall was reflected in soil moisture levels that differed considerably between different regions of New Zealand.  As of 1 May 2015, soils were notably drier than normal for Northland and northern Auckland, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, coastal Wairarapa and eastern parts of North Canterbury.  Soils were wetter than normal in parts of Waikato, Taranaki, Manawatu-Whanganui, eastern Mid-Canterbury, the Mackenzie Country and western Southland.  Elsewhere, soil moisture levels were nearer to normal for this time of year.

Despite the polar outbreak in mid-April, it was a mild month overall, with at least above average temperatures (0.51-1.20°C above the April average) for the majority of the country.  The exception was south-eastern parts of the South Island, inland parts of Canterbury and western parts of Waikato where temperatures were typically near average (between -0.50°C to +0.50C of the April average).  It was a particularly warm month for West Coast, eastern parts of Canterbury north of Ashburton, Kapiti Coast, Manawatu-Whanganui and Taranaki where temperatures were well above average (> 1.20°C above the April average).  The nation-wide average temperature in April 2015 was 14.1°C (0.9°C above the 1981-2010 April average from NIWA’s seven station temperature series which begins in 1909)[1].

It was a sunny month for Northland and Dunedin where April sunshine was above normal (110-125% of the April normal).  Remaining parts of the country weren’t so lucky, and received either near normal (90-109% of the April normal) or below normal (75-89% of the April normal) sunshine.

Further Highlights:

• The highest temperature was 30.4°C, observed at Cheviot on 7 April.
• The lowest temperature was -4.8°C, observed at Hanmer Forest on 15 April.
• The highest 1-day rainfall was 206 mm[2], recorded at North Egmont on 8 April.
• The highest wind gust was 170 km/hr, observed at South West Cape on 7 April.
  • Of the six main centres in April 2015, Auckland was the warmest and sunniest, Dunedin was the coolest and driest, Hamilton was the wettest and Christchurch was the cloudiest.
  • Of the available, regularly reporting sunshine observation sites, the sunniest four centres so far in 2015 (1 January to 30 April) are: New Plymouth (1029 hours), Whakatane (1009 hours), Waipara West (972 hours) and Paraparaumu (970 hours).

Download the full report:

Monthly Climate Summary - April 2015 [633.3 KB]