“Overall, the nationwide average temperature for autumn 2024 was 12.8C (0.6C below the 1991-2020 average from Niwa’s seven-station temperature series, which begins in 1909), making autumn 2024 the coolest autumn since 2012, and the fourth-coolest autumn since 2000.”
However, Carrier said, the season did feature monthly variations in temperature. Autumn began on a chilly note because March was New Zealand’s most unusually cold month since January 2014, and the coldest March since 2012. After near-average temperatures in April, they were well below average in May. It was the coldest May since 2009.
The variations were prominent in Northland, with some parts of the region drier than normal and others wetter than normal, some warmer and others sunnier.
It was a dry May for many parts of the country. Rainfall was below normal (by 50-79 per cent) or well below normal (by less than 50 per cent) for much of the country, with northern and eastern parts of Northland getting below-normal rainfall. In contrast, rainfall was above normal in western parts of Northland, much of Auckland, parts of northern Waikato, Wellington, and southern Southland.
Whangārei recorded 173 hours of sunshine in May. That is 113 per cent of the monthly norm, and the second-highest total for May since records there began in 1954. Whangārei also recorded its fourth-lowest May minimum mean air temperature on record with 8C — 1.5C below the monthly average.
Cape Reinga, meanwhile, recorded its third-lowest May minimum air temperature since records began there in 1951, with 6C on May 30.
Kaikohe recorded 29.1C on April 11, the town’s second-highest April temperature since records began there in 1973.
