Frosts in Pukekohe?

[Rich]

Does anyone know how often Pukekohe or more specifically Buckland experiences frost and their severity?

I was recently speaking to a relative who lives at a rural address near Buckland and she said frosts aren't that uncommon in winter.I was a little taken aback by this, as I've visited at least a dozen times of the years (admittedly not in the dead of winter) and while they get very moist winters it never had that certain "icy" feel to the air that places in the South Island have from this time of year onwards...anyway it was hard to believe.

[spwill]

Yes, parts of rural Auckland can be quite frosty at times in winter, it will vary from year to year depending on the type of Winter we have. It would be interesting to know the average number of frost days across various parts of the region.

[NZstorm]

Pukekohe averages about 20 ground frosts a year but air frosts are rare. Most years there would be no air frost recorded.

There is a big variability in frost across Auckland. Coastal and central city zones rarely get ground frosts.

[David]

Most years there would be no air frost recorded.

Not so sure about that - the air temperature gets down to around 0 here most winters, Pukekohe would be at least 1 degree colder than here

[NZstorm]

The frost data for Pukekohe is historical Met Service data. I don't know where the weather station was but I guess the data will come from within the town.

[Manukau heads obs]

pukekohe hill itself near the top is nearly frost free
as the cold air sinks to valleys, low areas around it
the valley area, NE pukekohe town through to the race track (Manukau road) would be the most likely to get frosts
Waiuku is in a hollow and gets air frosts no problem

[spwill]

A quick look at the Winter monthly climate summaries for the last 3 years I see the Pukekohe and Ardmore locations managed to stay above 0C for the last 2 years( only just) but the Winter of 2009 had a min of -08C at Pukekohe and -2.5C at Ardmore however August 2009 was frost free at the Pukekohe site with a minimum of 2.9C.

[Manukau heads obs]

the market gardening on the hill sides is known for its ability to grow multiple crop rotations year round
(i.e frost free)