But July was "very variable".
"It swung a bit from cold to warm," she said.
Then temperatures dipped in the first two weeks of August.
"Everyone was feeling the chill in the air. We went back to relatively normal temperatures and September looks relatively mild."
Statistics released by Niwa yesterday revealed the highest winter temperature was 25.1C recorded at Napier on June 10.
This was the highest winter temperature ever for Napier, Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said.
Gisborne also experienced its highest winter temperature on record with 23.2C on the same day.
Timaru was on track for its sunniest winter on record since 1930 with 510 hours of sunshine through to August 28.
Winter's lowest temperature was -17.8C, at Takahe Valley, near Te Anau, on August 7.
The most rainfall over an hour for June in Auckland was between 1pm and 2pm on June 29 when 26.6mm of rain bucketed down on the city.
Waipara West, in North Canterbury, was on track toward its second driest winter on record with just 73mm of rain through to August 28. Milford Sound received the most rainfall this winter with 1660mm of rain from June 1 to August 29.