![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sunshine-generic-image-CAD4SOHOBVEDLO5ERGRHBBTWKU.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNew Zealand has emerged from one of its warmest winters on record, with new data showing the average nationwide temperature reached 9.7C \u2014 making it the country’s third-warmest winter since records began in 1909. <\/p>\n
The figure was 1.1C above the 1991-2020 winter average, according to Earth Sciences New Zealand’s winter climate summary, released today. <\/p>\n
The South Island experienced a particularly warm season, with temperatures above or well above average across the entire island during winter. <\/p>\n
Many parts of the North Island were also warmer than usual, although temperatures remained close to average in parts of Northland, Auckland, Waikato, eastern Bay of Plenty and Gisborne. <\/p>\n
Earth Sciences New Zealand said the result may come as a surprise to people in northern areas, with the exceptional warmth experienced nationwide in June and throughout the South Island helping drive up the overall winter average. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
File image: Sunshine. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n
Record-breaking warmth<\/p>\n
Dozens of locations logged record or near-record high temperatures over the first two days of June, as a high-pressure system east of New Zealand brought a very warm northerly flow across the country. <\/p>\n
Another spell of unusually warm weather followed later that month. Christchurch recorded the country’s highest winter temperature, reaching 26C<\/a> in Bromley on June 20 \u2014 New Zealand’s second-highest winter temperature on record. <\/p>\n Lincoln reached 25.7C the same day, equalling the country’s third-highest winter temperature, while Christchurch’s Botanic Gardens reached 25.6C \u2014 the fourth-highest.<\/p>\n Winter still brought some bitterly cold spells to parts of the country, with Lake Tekapo recording the season’s lowest temperature<\/a> of -13.5C on July 12. <\/p>\n Fourteen locations experienced record or near-record low minimum temperatures<\/a> for winter during the August cold snap,<\/a> and frosts were observed<\/a> across most of the country from August 5 to 7.<\/p>\n Sunshine and rain. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n A mixed season for rainfall<\/p>\n Rainfall also varied considerably across the country during winter. Southland, Otago, the West Coast and parts of Canterbury recorded above or well above normal rainfall.<\/a><\/p>\n Large parts of the North Island were drier than normal, including Manawat\u016b-Whanganui, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and much of Waikato, Auckland Northland. <\/p>\n The highest one-day total rainfall was 194mm at Franz Josef on August 26, while the strongest wind gust reached 207km\/h at Cape Turnagain on August 23. <\/p>\n Of the six main centres, Auckland and Tauranga were the equal-warmest over winter, while Tauranga took out the title of the sunniest main centre. Christchurch was the coolest and driest, Wellington was the wettest and Dunedin was the least sunny. <\/p>\n Across the entire country, Nelson had experienced the most sunshine, totalling 1823 hours throughout the year so far. <\/p>\n It was followed by Whakat\u0101ne with 1793 hours, New Plymouth with 1760 hours and Richmond with 1722 hours. <\/p>\n El Ni\u00f1o is expected to bring a warm, dry and windy spring \u2013 putting pressure on crops, pasture, and water supplies. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n Earth Sciences New Zealand said El Ni\u00f1o conditions<\/a> were present in the tropical Pacific and strengthened considerably from the middle of winter. <\/p>\n Sea temperatures around New Zealand were mostly near or above average, with marine heatwave conditions experienced around much of the South Island and Tasman Sea during July and August. <\/p>\n Intensifying El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> conditions were now expected to bring a warm, dry and windy spring<\/a> to many parts of the country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand has emerged from one of its warmest winters on record, with new data showing the average…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,158,1080,31044,111,43,139,1067,69,15488,1756,3393,52],"class_list":["post-589651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-manawatu-wanganui","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-southland","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-weather-news","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sunshine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sun-windshiels-car-travel-abstract-concept-XDIO4S4DY5BCTDGABWLLTJZPGA.jpg\")
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