NZ Weather Forum

All depends on what you define as summer, inland South Island mainly round the Mackenzie country might get cool nights as you move into late March- April but the days can be fantastically still and warm with temps up to mid 20s often.
We have had a caravan at falstone camp on the Twizle end of Lake benmore from Sept-May for ten years and i have to say the what i would call the warm season lasts much longer down there than Chch.
We swim and water ski from Nov-April and thats on a Glacier feed lake.

I know which one of these i would have any day- hot very dry and clear

Average daily max in Auckland area in April is 20C-21C where as its 15C-16C for Mackenzie Lakes.

April sunshine hours are about the same for both regions. 180hrs mark.

NZstorm wrote:Average daily max in Auckland area in April is 20C-21C where as its 15C-16C for Mackenzie Lakes.

April sunshine hours are about the same for both regions. 180hrs mark.

I'm not picking favourites because these things are purely subjective, but the annual average sunshine at Tekapo is around the 2400 mark, far above any Auckland site. The Auckland April means for a variety of sites and periods have never been much above 160. And don't quote me back the old Tekapo figures - they were from a disadvantaged site.

For myself I pick Perth but if restricted to NZ it's Nelson or Blenheim with a slight preference for the latter because it's much drier.

If that NEer didn't blow like it does I would probably pick Chc's weather, although You can't beat a nice Upper NI summer though.
That NEer is such a downer that the chc suburbs that bound the sea have been economically depressed for years, despite being sited next to a beautiful sandy beach that stretches unbroken for as far as the eye can see (more or less).

I would take a cloudy over a full sunshine location. At least cloudy you have something to look at. Clear dry weather is torture for me.

Some of those sunnier climates are the most boring. Showers/rain provide some weather interest.

dogmelon wrote:If that NEer didn't blow like it does I would probably pick Chc's weather, although You can't beat a nice Upper NI summer though.
That NEer is such a downer that the chc suburbs that bound the sea have been economically depressed for years, despite being sited next to a beautiful sandy beach that stretches unbroken for as far as the eye can see (more or less).

The NE is hardly unique to Ch'ch. It's felt over a long stretch of coastal real estate - blows down Dunedin harbour, where there is considerably less sunshine as compensation.

jamie wrote:I would take a cloudy over a full sunshine location. At least cloudy you have something to look at. Clear dry weather is torture for me.

I've seen enough clouds (let alone rain) to last me a very long time.

Auckland does okay for sunshine, 2100hrs at Albert Park in the CBD.

300h short of Tekapo tho- around two months worth

RWood wrote: The NE is hardly unique to Ch'ch. It's felt over a long stretch of coastal real estate - blows down Dunedin harbour, where there is considerably less sunshine as compensation.

Dunedin is famous for that cold harbour wind.

Rwood what happened at the Tekapo site regards sunshine recording? There must have been an obstruction of sorts on the original recorder.

NZstorm wrote:Auckland does okay for sunshine, 2100hrs at Albert Park in the CBD.

Hmm... I think sunshine readings from Albert Park ceased in 1955. There have been a variety of Akld sites since then, but the only two current ones are NIWA's Mangere site and its 4-year-old Albany site, with Mangere's latest 1981-2010 normal being 2038 hrs.

melja wrote:300h short of Tekapo tho- around two months worth

It might be sunnier in Tekapo but very very few would say Tekapo has a better climate than Auckland. The winters there are tough going

Depends on your ideas on what makes a great climate I would think. Everybody has different needs

Gary McConnochie wrote:Depends on your ideas on what makes a great climate I would think. Everybody has different needs

This is true

Tekapo has an elevation close to 700m. A different type of climate zone to Auckland.

spwill wrote:

melja wrote:300h short of Tekapo tho- around two months worth

It might be sunnier in Tekapo but very very few would say Tekapo has a better climate than Auckland. The winters there are tough going

Harden up mate

shovelopikis wrote:Harden up mate

It's got nothing to do with hardening up.
If you were acclimatised to a northern NZ climate I'm sure you would consider Tekapo to be very cold as well!

march/april weather is fine for me.

Tekapo is very cold! Had some hard frosts during summer there while camping over the years..

Nev wrote:

NZstorm wrote:Auckland does okay for sunshine, 2100hrs at Albert Park in the CBD.

Hmm... I think sunshine readings from Albert Park ceased in 1955.

There was a Victoria Street site up until the early 1980's which average 2100hrs also.

NZstorm wrote:

RWood wrote: The NE is hardly unique to Ch'ch. It's felt over a long stretch of coastal real estate - blows down Dunedin harbour, where there is considerably less sunshine as compensation.

Dunedin is famous for that cold harbour wind.

Rwood what happened at the Tekapo site regards sunshine recording? There must have been an obstruction of sorts on the original recorder.

For much of the period of manual records 1928-1981 there was interference through being too far west, where Mt John cut off daylight. There is an observer comment in the NIWA records about that. Further east the readings were higher. Now the measurement is at the airfield and is more representative of the upper Mackenzie.

Nev wrote:

NZstorm wrote:Auckland does okay for sunshine, 2100hrs at Albert Park in the CBD.

Hmm... I think sunshine readings from Albert Park ceased in 1955. There have been a variety of Akld sites since then, but the only two current ones are NIWA's Mangere site and its 4-year-old Albany site, with Mangere's latest 1981-2010 normal being 2038 hrs.

True, but the Mechanics Bay site and also the Auckland City site (whose later 80s records were compromised by building obstructions) are quoted for some 30-year periods as being in excess of 2100 hours.

The 1941-1970 "normals" publication gives Whenuapai 2092, Mechanics Bay 2106, Auckland City 2140;
1951-1980 pub. gives Auckland City 2067, Mangere 2004, Auckland Airport 2091.

Gary McConnochie wrote:Depends on your ideas on what makes a great climate I would think. Everybody has different needs

Yes - I cite my preferences, but make no "merit" assessments for that reason.

The South Pole has 2938 annual average sunshine hrs, you might like a Summer at the South Pole RWood

Tekapo has an average Winter temperature of 2.5C