NZ's foggiest city becomes clear

Wellington has displaced Hamilton as the fog capital of New Zealand, although Air New Zealand has confirmed the worst airport in the country for weather-related closures is Queenstown.

Hamilton Airport chief executive Hugh McCarroll said Wellington's fog woes over the weekend wrapped up a bad year for the city.

More than 5000 passengers had their travel plans disrupted by low-lying fog around Wellington Airport for the 18th day of the year on Sunday. Fifty flights were cancelled at the weekend.

MetService duty forecaster Peter Little said the low cloud was caused by a high-pressure system to the east of the country dragging moist air over the coast. No more fog was now expected before Christmas.

Hamilton Airport operations manager Simon Hollinger said the worst months for Hamilton fog disruptions were May and June, although any time between March and August could create problems.

In the past three years 99.5 per cent of all scheduled flights into and out of Hamilton had been completed, he said.

- nzpa