KEY POINTS:
Warm and dry was Niwa's report card for most of the country during December 2007.
Despite sunshine hours being well below average in the North Island because of clouds, average temperatures were still between 0.5C and 1C above normal in most areas.
The hottest spot of the month was Christchurch Airport on December 11 with 32.8C.
But not everyone enjoyed such good beach and barbecue weather - Northland recorded twice the normal level of December rainfall.
Coromandel, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay also emerged soggy in some areas.
That rainfall would have been welcome to many in Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago, which continued to experience the severe soil dryness that began in November.
Of the five main centres, Auckland was the warmest with an average of 18.6C, and Wellington the wettest with 91mm of rain.
Christchurch was the driest and also the sunniest and Dunedin was the coldest, with an average of 14.2C.
- NZPA
