The sun kept shining in Hastings and its heat was noticeably warmer than normal. Photo / Warren Buckland
The sun kept shining in Hastings and its heat was noticeably warmer than normal. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hastings basked in its second-warmest winter on record and Wairoa had its warmest ever as the region all-but sweltered through the coldest months of the year.
According to Niwa climate data, Hastings, with an average temperature of 10C this winter, was 1.4C warmer than its average.
Niwa's Seven Station TemperatureSeries, which began in 1909, showed that in terms of daytime maximum temperatures, it was the warmest winter on record in Wairoa with an average of 16.5C – that's 2C above average.
As a whole, New Zealand also had its warmest winter on record.
The 2020 winter was 1.14C above average, just nudging out winter 2013 from the top spot, which was 1.08C above average.
The Kaweka Range is coated in snow on Friday morning, a rare moment of cool in what is set to be a warm Hawke's Bay spring. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hastings registered its maximum winter temperature of the year (22.9C) on August 30 – the fourth-highest winter temperature on record in the district.
Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said 17 locations observed record-breaking mean winter temperatures across New Zealand, with another 53 locations ranking within their top four warmest winters.
"In Wairoa, it was the second-warmest winter on record with an average temperature of 11.4C - 1.6C above average," he said.
"On August 30, Wairoa had a maximum temperature of 23.7C - its third-highest winter temperature on record."
The results mean seven of the 10 warmest winters on record in New Zealand have occurred since the year 2000.
Noll said the winter warmth can be attributed to several factors, including more subtropical northeasterly winds than normal, above average sea surface temperatures during winter, higher than normal air pressure and climate change.
It was also far less frosty than usual - Hastings and Wairoa both also had their fourth-highest average winter overnight temperatures - 4.8C and 6.3C respectively.
The highest recorded winter temperature this year was 25.1C on August 30 in Timaru, while the lowest was -12.3C at Middlemarch on June 14.
In Napier, the average temperature was 10.4C - 0.9C above average.
"While it was warmer than average, it was not a record or near-record," Noll said.
"Napier did record 189mm of rain this winter. The normal is 256mm. Therefore, winter rainfall was below normal," Noll added.
Kaikohe had its second-wettest winter on record, with 935mm of rain, while the highest one-day rainfall occurred in Northland in mid-July.
At the opposite end of the scale, Reefton had its second-driest winter on record with just 291mm of rain over three months.
Looking ahead to spring, air temperatures across New Zealand are most likely to be above average, according to the Niwa seasonal climate outlook for September to November.
In Hawke's Bay, temperatures are most likely to be above average, while rainfall totals are most likely to be near normal.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council principal scientist air Kathleen Kozyniak said the country is experiencing warmer than average seas, which look set to continue during spring.
"That helps to keep our air temperatures warm, particularly the overnight temperatures," she said.
Rainfall is likely to be near normal across the whole east coast of the North Island, while soil moisture and river flows are equally as likely to be near normal or below normal.
