Niwa’s official climate data shows New Zealand has just experienced its warmest winter on record — significantly exceeding the previous record which was set just last year. Niwa meteorologist Nava Fedaeff said 76 locations across the country experienced a record or near-record warm winter — many of them were in Otago and Southland. Dunedin (Musselburgh) had a mean temperature of 8.5degC which was 1.4degC above normal, making it the city’s warmest winter on record. Lumsden, Middlemarch, Milford Sound, Nugget Point, Queenstown, Ranfurly and Roxburgh had their second warmest winter on record. Ms Fedaeff said the last time the warmest winter record was toppled the following year, was in 1970 and 1971.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 03, 2021 16:33 UTC