NZ has its warmest winter on record

Official climate data from Niwa shows June to August was 1.32C above average.

The country has just had its warmest winter on record - beating the record set just last year.

Official climate data from Niwa shows June to August was 1.32C above average.

Meteorologist Nava Fedaeff says the last time a consecutive year beat its previous winter temperature record was in 1971.

She says there were 76 locations across the country that experienced a record or near-record warm winter.

Fedaeff says record-breaking temperatures 50 years ago are now considered near average, as seven of the 10 warmest winters have been since 2000.

Fedaeff delved into historic weather records and found that the last time New Zealand experienced a similar sequence of events was 50 years ago.

The winter of 1970 was at the time New Zealand's warmest winter on record only to be beaten by the winter of 1971.

"What was considered to be unusually warm at the time is no longer considered unusual. The winter of 1971 now stands in 13th place of the temperature rankings while the winter of 1970 is 18th."

Fedaeff said what may have been considered record-breaking in 1970 is now considered near average.

"For instance, the once record-breaking winter 1971 is 0.75C cooler than the winter we have just experienced."

The years 1970 and 1971, as well as the winters of 2020 and 2021 were influenced by La Niña featuring warm coastal waters, frequent high pressure and more northerly and north-easterly winds than normal.

"These similar winters, decades apart, show us that there are key natural ingredients to getting a warm winter but adding climate change to the mix is like taking the same recipe and swapping plain flour for self-raising."

Warmer spring than usual forecast

A warmer than usual spring is being forecast by Niwa.

Niwa predicts that unseasonably warm conditions at times this spring, particularly in the east of both islands.

It said despite this, cold spells and frosts may still occur occasionally, especially early in the season.

Niwa says spring rainfall is most likely to be below normal in the east of the North Island, near normal in the west of the South Island, and about equally likely to be near normal or below normal in all remaining regions across Aotearoa New Zealand.

-RNZ

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5 comments

Lovely

Posted on 06-09-2021 11:24 | By Kancho

Mild winters are great. Guess we will be in for more . Eventually another ice age is predicted to but don't think I will be for that cycle


Climate change is...

Posted on 06-09-2021 15:04 | By morepork

...a myth, or a conspiracy theory designed to cause inconvenience to big Corporations who are happily plundering the planet while deflecting criticism into "debatable" science. (I you have the money, you can get a valid scientific report that either supports or denies Climate change.) Well now the pigeons are coming home to roost; we can SEE and feel the abnormal weather patterns that have been dismissed by vested interests as "statistical blips". It is affecting the WHOLE world and that includes rich as well as poor people. If we don't provoke serious action to prevent this, we will lose our habitat. And the worst part is that we deserve to...


Population

Posted on 06-09-2021 16:11 | By Kancho

The big elephant in the room regardless is the world is reaching its maximum supportable population. Resources are stretched and broken in many countries. As population doubles and doubles again and want more then industries produce more product, burns more , depletes more. The truth is population drives the greenhouse affect just by eating , living wanting. Debate about cause is irrelevant as it won't stop unless everyone stops having families, which won't happen so every child will burn more to live and so on. The world population is in an ever increasing upward curve already until war for resource.


@Kancho

Posted on 07-09-2021 17:07 | By morepork

You are right that population growth is problematic, but only because some people are greedy and selfish. We would be fine if we could change our nature... ONE person breathes around 740 KG of oxygen in a YEAR. ONE jumbo jet crossing the Atlantic uses over 36,000 KG (and in normal times, there are HUNDREDS of flights every day.) It is true that heavy industrialization is required to service the population, but much of it is driven by profit for a wealthy few. People DO burn resources but we are smart enough to be able to manage that, if we had the will to. It isn't rocket science to plant a tree when you cut one down...


@morepork

Posted on 08-09-2021 08:32 | By Kancho

The math doesn't stack up . Population will overtake any measures . Human activity will not be curtailed evidenced in that it ever has. It's not selfish to live a do things even someone who never leaves town burns more resources than they can create. We consume and this consumption is industrilised in production of everything , food, clothing, housing, household, etc. Vehicles transport everything to us again not selfish just fact. Even a little country like ours has gone from one million in 1900 to 5 million plus now and stressing. But in other developing countries populations are huge and requiring everything we take for granted . They nor us are selfish or decadent as you imply life goes on more and more consumers come on line everyday, no every minute struggling to feed everyone which again creates pollution and greenhouse gas. Multiply


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