Sunny Kaitaia defies autumn

It's official - Kaitaia was the sunniest place in New Zealand for the first month of autumn. Last month, it had 268 hours of sunshine, the most for the month since 1985.

Sunshine records were also broken in Nelson, which had 263 hours; Takaka, 238; Dargaville, 232; Turangi, 225; Te Kuiti, 223; Cheviot in North Canterbury, 212; and Taumarunui, 210.

Auckland took out the sunniest city spot, with 239 hours, followed by Tauranga with 234, Hamilton 212, Wellington 218, Christchurch 204 and Dunedin 166.

But temperatures were below normal, averaging 17.4C, 1.2C lower than the long-term normal of 18.6.

The cooler temperatures were mirrored across the country. The latest NIWA climate report shows the average temperature for New Zealand was 15.1C last month, 0.6C below normal.

The highest temperature was 30.5C, recorded in Hastings on March 1, and the coldest was -2.8C in the South Island's Hakataramea Valley, near Kurow, on March 22.

Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest and wettest in March and Christchurch the driest.

NIWA also said most of the country was extremely dry, with record low rainfall in parts of Wairarapa, Marlborough, north Canterbury and Otago.

Temperatures have also remained below normal so far this month, with an average of 15.2C in Auckland - 1C cooler than normal - 14.2C in Wellington and 12C in Christchurch, both 0.1C cooler.

But it's not quite time to break out the winter woollies, as NIWA is predicting warmer than average days until June.

Weather Watch analyst Philip Duncan said autumn would be more settled than last year. "We are still seeing very large highs moving in from around Tasmania/Southern Australia," he said. "These highs move into the Tasman Sea and act as a 'protective lid', stopping lows and thunderstorms from moving in from the west."

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said it was too early to predict exactly what the winter months held but it looked like New Zealand was heading for a neutral winter.

"Timing is uncertain, but this [neutral] weather pattern is the one that may bring floods and extreme weather ... we have the ingredients."