This year’s winter was a season of extremes, starting off early and extra frosty and ending unusually warm.

A summary shows the cold season arrived in May and was extra chilly this year, but also ended earlier with the warmest August we have had since records began.

Results released by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research yesterday showed unusually high pressure over the country resulted in frosty temperatures beginning in May.

The average temperature for winter across the country was 8.3C, 0.2C higher than usual.

Niwa climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said the warmer winter was because of extreme swings in climate cycles.

“It was a bit of a topsy-turvy one at the start and then we had the turnaround – it was a big switch,” she said. “It’s not climate change per se, it’s just climate patterns.”

Temperatures in May were between 2C and 2.5C lower than average in many areas.

The coldest temperature recorded this year was in Middlemarch, Otago – minus 11.7C.
In contrast, last month brought an early end to the winter season with the warmest August in New Zealand since records began.

The hottest temperature was recorded in Timaru on August 25 – 22.2C.

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