page_title: Geography of New Zealand
section_title: Climate
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of New Zealand / Physical geography / Climate
caption_attribution_description: English: Desert Road, Central Plateau, NZ
context_page_description: New Zealand is an island country located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, near the centre of the water hemisphere. It consists of a large number of islands, estimated around 600, mainly remnants of a larger land mass now beneath the sea. The two main islands by size are the North Island and the South Island, separated by the Cook Strait. The third-largest is Stewart Island, located 30 kilometres off the tip of the South Island across Foveaux Strait. Other islands are significantly smaller in area. The three largest islands stretch 1,500 kilometres across latitudes 34° to 47° south. New Zealand is the sixth-largest island country in the world, with a land size of 267,710 km².
  New Zealand's terrain ranges from the fiord-like sounds of the southwest to the sandy beaches of the far north. The South Island is dominated by the Southern Alps while a volcanic plateau covers much of the central North Island. Temperatures rarely fall below 0 °C or rise above 30 °C and conditions vary from wet and cold on the South Island's west coast to dry and continental a short distance away across the mountains and near subtropical in the northern reaches of the North Island.
context_section_description: The main geographic factors that influence New Zealand's climate are the temperate latitude, with prevailing westerly winds; the oceanic environment; and the mountains, especially the Southern Alps. The climate is mostly temperate with mean temperatures ranging from 8 °C (46 °F) in the South Island to 16 °C (61 °F) in the North Island. January and February are the warmest months, July the coldest. New Zealand does not have a large temperature range, apart from central Otago, but the weather can change rapidly and unexpectedly. Near subtropical conditions are experienced in Northland.
  Most settled, lowland areas of the country have between 600 and 1,600 mm of rainfall, with the most rain along the west coast of the South Island and the least on the east coast of the South Island and interior basins, predominantly on the Canterbury Plains and the Central Otago Basin (about 350 mm (14 in) PA). Christchurch is the driest city, receiving about 640 mm (25 in) of rain PA, while Hamilton is the wettest, receiving more than twice that amount at 1,325 mm (52.2 in) PA, followed closely by Auckland. The wettest area by far is the rugged Fiordland region, in the south-west of the South Island, which has between 5,000 and 8,000 mm (200 and 310 in) of rain PA, with up to 15,000 mm in isolated valleys, amongst the highest recorded rainfalls in the world.
  The UV index can be very high and extreme in the hottest times of the year in the north of the North Island. This is partly due to the country's relatively little air pollution compared to many other countries and the high sunshine hours.
  New Zealand has very high sunshine hours with most areas receiving over 2000 hours per year. The sunniest areas are Nelson/Marlborough and the Bay of Plenty with 2,400 hours per year.
  The table below lists climate normals for the warmest and coldest months in New Zealand's six largest cities. North Island cities are generally warmest in February. South Island cities are warmest in January.
caption: Central Plateau in winter
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX P510", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX P510   V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2013:07:15 17:13:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "314", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[50, 51, 48, 48]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0/0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "0/0", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "", "Image GPSInfo": "1002", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4620", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "47/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:07:15 17:13:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:07:15 17:13:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "49", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1368", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "275", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}