Kaikohe sweltered as hottest place in the country in April

Kaikohe was the warmest place in the country in April, recording a summer-like 29.1C on April 11

Kaikohe was the hottest place in the country in April, with the town recording its warmest temperature for the month on record as the Far North’s fine summer weather continued into autumn.

The Niwa Climate Summary for April shows the month was characterised by lower-than-normal mean sea level pressure south of the country and higher-than-normal pressure to the north of the country. This produced more northwesterly airflows than normal and contributed to the observed rainfall pattern during April, where the west of both islands generally saw much more rainfall than eastern areas. This was characteristic of a continued, but weakening, El Nino pattern during April.

The conditions during the month were fairly mundane, with the exception of an atmospheric river that brought high-impact weather to the country from April 9-12.

Temperatures were above average (0.51C to 1.20C above average) or well above average (>1.20C above average) in much of Northland, parts of Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, parts of Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū-Whanganui, Wellington, Tasman, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Near-average temperatures (±0.50C of average) were observed in much of the central and eastern North Island, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast and Fiordland.

The nationwide average temperature in April 2024 was 13.8C. This was 0.4C above the 1991-2020 April average from Niwa’s seven-station temperature series, which begins in 1909.

In Northland, Kaikohe sweltered as the hottest place in the country for the month when it recorded a temperature of 29.1C on April 11. This was the highest April temperature in Kaikohe since records began there in 1973. The next-highest temperature for the month was 26.6C in Takapau Plains on April 10.

Kaikohe also recorded its third-highest April daily minimum air temperature, 18.8C, on April 11.

Kaitāia, meanwhile, recorded its second-highest daily minimum air temperature for April since records began there in 1948. The town had a daily low of 20.6C on April 11.

On that same day, Dargaville recorded its second-highest minimum air temperature for April since records began there in 1951 with 19.9C. Whangārei recorded its third-highest daily minimum air temperature for April since records began there on in 1967 with 20.1C on April 11.

Of the available regularly reporting sunshine observation sites, the sunniest four regions so far in 2024 have been Marlborough (1061 hours), wider Nelson (1051 hours), Taranaki (1039 hours) and Tasman (1022 hours).