Spring 'unremarkable' season for Kiwis

Photo / Paul Taylor

Cold temperatures and strong winds across the country made for an "unremarkable" spring this year.

According to the spring climate summary released by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), most of the country experienced near average temperatures across September, October and November.

This meant a largely "unremarkable season" for Kiwis looking forward to warmer weather and sunshine.

The nationwide average temperature in spring 2014 was 12.2C.

In September, temperatures for many parts of the North Island shot up, however, temperatures fell back to below average towards the end of November.

Of the main centres Auckland was the warmest and Wellington was the sunniest this spring.

Dunedin was the coolest, Christchurch was the driest and Hamilton was the wettest and cloudiest.

Dunedin may have been the coolest, but the region saw a lot of sun with 126 more hours of sunshine recorded than usual, and it was mostly dry for Tauranga where there was half the usual amount of rainfall.

For many parts of the South Island it was a very dry spring, particularly for Nelson and Marlborough where near record low spring rainfall totals were recorded.

Nelson received just 39 per cent of normal spring rainfall, leaving soils in the area more dry than usual.

Wellington and Christchurch also experienced a dry season, receiving approximately three quarters of normal spring rainfall.

Many areas were hit by strong winds that battered the country this spring, and the highest recorded wind gust was 209 km/h at Cape Turnagain on November 18.

Winds were particularly strong in September, when strong southwesterly winds across the country, bought down trees, ripped up rooves and left thousands without power.

On September 22, winds in Wellington bought down power lines and closed the Interislander ferry services for the day, and for Christchurch strong wind gusts cut off power to around 400 homes.

However, those in Auckland were worst effected by strong winds, with 10,000 people left without power across the city, after gale winds bought down trees, affecting power lines.

So far, summer has been off to a below average start, and the country has had the coolest start to summer in almost a decade.

MetService said that looking ahead, December would mean warmer temperatures for most of the country, with the weather starting to settle particularly in the second half of the month.

Spring highlights:

- The highest temperature was 31.1C in Christchurch.

- The lowest temperature was -6.9C in Middlemarch.

- The highest wind gust was 209km/h at Cape Turnagain

- The sunniest four centres so far in 2014 are Whakatane, Blenheim, Nelson and Lake Tekapo.

- Of the main centres this spring Auckland was the warmest, Dunedin was the coolest, Christchurch was the driest, Hamilton was the wettest and cloudiest and Wellington was the sunniest.

- Rainfall was well below normal in Nelson and Marlborough, and Nelson received just 39 per cent of normal spring rainfall.