National Climate Summary: Autumn 2014
National Climate Summary: Autumn 2014 Issued: 5 June 2014
A warm and sunny autumn for much of the North Island, wet for many parts of the South Island.
Rainfall It was a wet autumn for much of the South Island and parts of the lower North Island. Autumn rainfall was well above normal (more than 150% of normal) in south-western Southland, and along the eastern South Island near Dunedin and north of Timaru. Autumn rainfall was above normal (120-150% of normal) in Nelson, Marlborough, many remaining parts of Canterbury and Otago, and inland Southland. In contrast, rainfall was below normal (50-79% of autumn normal) for Northland, Auckland, and the Coromandel Peninsula, as well as in parts of Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki. Remaining areas of New Zealand typically received near normal autumn rainfall (within 20% of autumn normal).
Soil moisture At the start of autumn, soils were much drier than normal across most of the North Island. Welcome autumn rainfall saw an improvement in soil moisture levels across many parts of the North Island, but as of 1 June 2014, drier than normal soils persist for parts of Auckland and Northland, whilst soils about northern Gisborne, the Central Plateau and Hawke’s Bay were also drier than normal. As of 1 June 2014 soils were wetter than normal throughout the eastern South Island, the Southern Lakes and Central Otago, whilst soil moisture levels were near normal for most remaining areas of the country.
Temperature Autumn temperatures were near average (within 0.5°C of the autumn average) for much of Northland, Auckland, Mahia Peninsula, coastal Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough, Canterbury, eastern Otago and the Catlins. Autumn temperatures were above average (0.5°C to 1.2°C above average) or well above average (more than 1.2°C above average) for remaining areas of the country.
Sunshine Autumn sunshine was abundant for most of the North Island, where above normal (110-125% of autumn normal) or well above normal (more than 125% of autumn normal) sunshine was received. The exception was towards and along the south-western coast of the island from Taranaki to Wellington, where sunshine was near normal (within 10% of autumn normal) or below normal (75-89% of autumn normal). Below normal or near normal sunshine for autumn was received across the entire South Island.
Full summary: Climate_Summary_Autumn_2014.pdf