Source: NIWA
Our 2022 Annual Climate Summary is now out.
It’s official – last year was once again Aotearoa’s warmest on record, knocking 2021 off the top spot. It was also the 8th most unusually wet year on record.
Highlights:
– The nationwide average temperature was 13.76C, +1.15C above the 1981-2010 annual average and surpassing 2021 by +0.20C
– The top-4 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2016
– No months were below average in temperature, with November being the most unusually warm
– The nationwide rainfall anomaly was 110%
– La Niña was one of the primary drivers of last year’s weather patterns
– Sea surface temperatures near New Zealand also had a big impact, being above or well above average every month and resulting in a marine heatwave for most of the year
– The highest air temperature was 34.7°C at Lake Karapiro on 3 January and the lowest was -11.6°C at Mt Cook Airport on 17 July
– Taranaki experienced New Zealand’s highest annual sunshine total with 2659 hours recorded at New Plymouth
– The wettest location was Cropp River (West Coast, 975 metres above sea level) with 11034mm rainfall
– Of the six main centres in 2022, Tauranga was the wettest, Dunedin was the driest and coolest, Auckland was the warmest, Hamilton was the sunniest, and Wellington was the least sunny.
