We would not be ex British if we did not go on about the weather and New Zealanders are just as bad. So a brief overview of Auckland's weather so far. We are supposed to have twice the rainfall of London. The rain here does not mess around, you do not get drizzly days, it pours then the sun usually comes out.The rain is at least very clean, no pollution, its a long way from Australia! Auckland is 36 degrees south compared to London at 52 North, thus the strong sun compounded by the weak ozone layer over Aus. and ourselves, plus low pollution, plus the earths wobble. The temperatures are kept from extremes by all the sea around us. The weather usually comes from the west bringing anti-cyclones (high Pressure, we are in the southern hemisphere) every 7 to 10 days with depressions every so often breaking up the party in the summer, in winter we of course get more “lows”. Also for what the sea is up to Swellmap, Tide Tables and 7 day Weather for the Hauraki Gulf. See also Auckland Climate

I have put the equivalent UK months in brackets and temps are Day / Night

November (May). Cool and sunny, this is late spring, the sun index is very high and tenps. are 19 / 13

December (June). Warm and sunny, but winds from the south west (Antarctica) sun index extreme ……21 / 14

January (July). Hot and sunny, the winds have dropped, just an occasional shower, mainly at night. Sun index extreme….. 23 / 17

February (August) Hot and sunny, grass going brown, sun index extreme …..23 / 16, but a lot of days it was over 25

March (September) Warm to hot, very little rain except the 29th when the aftermath of a cyclone hits the north island, it poured all day, the car was in for service and I had to use the bike for 3 different errands. Sun index very high…22 / 16

April (October) Warm and sunny up to the 12th temps 22 / 15, but now cooling fast, cold fronts have brought snow to 300 metres in the south island, temperature at 19 here on the 13th. Sun returned every day with no rain 'til 28th, Sun index high….21 / 14

May (November) Rain on the first, since had two weeks of sun and 20 during the day. We are still collecting our out door tomatoes. Now at the end of the month, still OK in tee shirt during day, but definetly a fleece in the evening. It has been a sunny month with most of the rain at night Figures for the month Max 23 Min 5 rain 23mm

June (December) Definetly cooler, a fleece is now required most of the day, although Kiwis still out in shorts. Rain still mostly at night, days generally O.K. The second half of June brought cold southerly's and bright sunshine, Temps. varied from 15 to 3 at night, then for the last week the rain came with the northern winds and temps. climbed to 17 / 10.

July (January). The first half of the month has been a mixture of cold sunny (13 / 4 ) days and warmer wetter ones. July 10th brought a near gale to Auckland with driving rain, a few trees down. Northland had it much worse with 250mm of rain in a day and floods. 21 / 1

August (Febuary) The weather is getting warmer, not a bad month, the wind is picking up for the sailing 19 / 4

I have not edited this for a while, it is now late Feb. 08 and NZ is in La Nina with drought conditions across much of the country, although we have no restrictions at present in Auckland. There is a small danger of electricity cuts in winter due to the lakes in South Island being low (hydro-electric).

We have moved on to July 11th, Summer went from December to past April, thats two excellent summers we have had here. The rains came in late June and the lakes are filling up. Cold storms have blown in from the Antartic and the Temp. fell to 0 degrees in Auckland one night, almost unheard of but at least the days were bright sunshine and we got out on our new boat. The cold has now passed the winds have moved to the north bringing more showers with a bit of sun. The overnight Temp. went from 0 to 12 in one day and Kaikora went from minus temps. one night to 21 the next night, Strange!

July Continued We have just finished the worst month for rain in years, it rained for 27 of July days, we had three tropical storms in 10 days, causing flooding, slips and power outages. Off course most people were not affected apart from the constant rain, anyway those hydro lakes are filling up nicely, mother nature balances things out. Things are staring to look better for August. Autumn 08 was typical with the westerly winds and normal temps and rainfall, not at all bad, summer kicked in early though.

Its now March and summer has officially finished, but the weather does know this. Jan. was excellent, but we had some rain in mid Feb., much to the relief of the farmers. The temps are about 19 during the day and 12 at night, but the sun is still very strong and still burns. March was glorious, hardly any rain and plenty of sun. April has started great. we are under a double high of 1034 Mpascals. We did a road trip for 6 days and had fantastic weather see Motorcycle Diaries - Not! April is near its end and Autumn weather has hit, a mixture of showers and sun, Temps. still in low 20's.

May 9 after fairly good Autumn weather, we have been hit with a storm overnight, no damage but windy and cold Max 14 today dropping to 8 tonight.

Winter usually starts after the shortest day (June 21), but this year, it started early May and has continued. We are getting cold with odd nights down to 4 and only rising to 12 during the day. This is the time that Aucklanders have to remember its not sub tropical all the year round and how badly a lot of homes are insulated. Its bad when you have to put a jumper on to go in home, as its warmer outside. We are comfortable with the heat pumps and electric blankets though.

We are definitely having a bad winter and its only mid June, its either sunny and cold, 2 at night rising to 13 or warm and wet. We are in an El Nino year

Well July was still colder than normal, but no extremes. August (think February) has made up for the earlier months, its been fairly dry and lots of sun with warm temperatures, this week (Aug 28)was forecast storms etc; yes it rained heavily over night but I have been painting the outside of the house and today its 20 and a lot warmer in the sun, working in a tee shirt. Spring is here well and truly, Terri is busy planting out vegetables and flowers. I spoke too early, second half of September has been very wet, now mid Oct and things are getting back to normal. Oct was the coldest for NZ since 1946, except Auckland and North of us!

It is now 3 days before Christmas and a blocking high has formed over North Island, meaning we have at least a week of settled weather, Xmas day is sunny and only sea breezes. See A Typical New Zealand Christmas

Jan 12 2010- North Island and East South Island have been basking in sunshine since Christmas and so the drought warnings are out around Gizzy, Napier, Central Otago and Canterbury . Fiordland have had 135% of normal rainfall (an awful lot), so much that the hydro lakes are overflowing, and water is being released over the sluices.

Jan was a really nice month in Auckland and Northland, cold in the South Island.

February, was a dry sunny month, only 5mm of rain for the entire month. We were in South Island for most of Feb and March. See: Five week trip to South Island (Feb/March 2010)

Early April has been typical (since we came here) dry and sunny, Easter was great weather even though met service was forecasting a wet Sunday and Monday. See: The Far North and the Cape (April 2010)

Mid April now, mixed sunshine and showers, temps around 20 down to 12 at night, still no heavy rain for the farmers.

Into May (5th) (November in the north hemisphere), April finished off nicely, trips out with the hood down, a couple of showery days daytime temps 18 to 20, nighttime down to 10 last night. Rain still needed badly for the farmers, Heat pump on in the mornings.

May 11 and the first real rains for the year are promised over the next few days. A low pressure is above us and it is blustery outside. I am in hospital waiting for an op. today so the weather is the least of my concerns.

May 19, the heavy rains forecast, missed Auckland, today sunny and 19 degrees.

May 20 and 21 heavy rain arrives with strong winds

Late May, early June (think December in northern hemisphere) rainy days and sunny days intermixed, gives ideal conditions for grass and weeds to grow prolifically.

Sorry no weather updates, we are stuck in the UK due to family reasons, back early Sept. (hope the house is OK, under the care of a 21 year old). Really looking forward to getting home.

See Also: New Zealand Climate