Warmest April on record

[Phil]

Last month was one of the warmest Aprils on record, with 30 days of record high temperatures and sunshine hours.

The National Institute for Water Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said April was anticyclonic, which resulted in dry, warm weather throughout most of the country.

"A lot of sunshine records were broken with Dunedin, Tekapo and Cromwell getting one and a half times what's typical for down there, as well parts of Palmerston North and Waikato," said Niwa scientist Georgina Griffiths.

Griffiths said Dunedin had the lowest monthly rainfall, just 12mm, since 1918.

Although some downpours in Gisborne, North Canterbury and Kaikoura made for cooler weather in early April, the rest of the country enjoyed higher temperatures than normal across the month.

"Most places were 1.5 to three degrees warmer than what's normal for April, and even in Central Otago they at times got five to six degrees warmer on average," Griffiths said.

However, parts of Fiordland and the Southern Alps experienced light snowfall last weekend.

Griffiths said total figures on sunshine, rainfall and temperatures for the period would be released later today.

Meanwhile, MetService forecaster Daniel Corbett said New Zealanders could expect more of the same dry, warm weather through the month of May.

"La Nina has gone away, but there's still hints of it in the atmosphere. There will still be seasonal active fronts, but now La Nina has moved away the highs have been coming back and should continue to do so for much of the coming month," he said.

"Long fines days and crisp mornings mixed with some rain will most likely be the norm throughout May."

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[TokWW]

Thanks Phil - just relocated the topic into Climatology as it is the best place to discuss seasonal weather.

[Rwood]

Either someone at NIWA has jumped the gun and not looked at the data properly, or they have been misreported. April was sunny, with a number of places setting new records - it was not one of the warmest Aprils, or anything remotely approaching it. The charts in NIWA's Climate Explorer show about 75% of the country within 0.5C of average (about 15-20% of it in the minus range), with only a small part of Fiordland more than 1.5C above average! The NIWA main summary should be out in a couple of days, with the facts summarised more accurately.

[Mark]

Hi Phil, Do you have a link for this story ty.

[David]

not[/b] one of the warmest Aprils, or anything remotely approaching it.
I was going to say - if it was one of the warmest, then according to my data so were the last two Aprils!

[TokWW]

I believe the report was from here - it seems verbatim...

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/april-s-record-breaking-warm-weather-4859828

Last month was one of New Zealand's warmest Aprils on record, with 30 days of record high temperatures and sunshine hours.

The National Institute for Water Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said April was anticyclonic, which resulted in dry, warm weather throughout most of the country.

"A lot of sunshine records were broken with Dunedin, Tekapo and Cromwell getting one and a half times what's typical for down there, as well parts of Palmerston North and Waikato," said Niwa scientist Georgina Griffiths.

Griffiths said Dunedin had the lowest monthly rainfall, just 12mm, since 1918.

Cheers

[Rwood]

There will be some embarrassment for NIWA if anyone compares this with the report which will be on their website in a day or two.