NZ Weather Forum

MetService - May 2017 Summary

During May, intense Highs frequented the New Zealand region, in between some very deep Lows spawned out of the north Tasman Sea. The Highs favoured southern New Zealand, overall, resulting in a drier than usual May over the lower half of the South Island. The Lows produced several heavy rain events for the North Island and upper South Island. The most notable occurred on 11-12 May, (the remnants of Cyclone Donna), and 16-18 May. The first week of May was extremely cold, and temperatures lingered on 'fairly ordinary' after that. A significant cold outbreak on 19/20 May produced the first decent snowfall of the year.

May 2017 Average Temps, Rainfall, Sunshine and departures from 1981-2010 normals ℅ NIWA

Site                     T-max °C      T-min °C      T-mean °C     Rain mm      Sun hrs

Auckland, Mangere       17.9  +0.4    10.2  -0.2    14.0   0.0    129  120%    160  111%
Auckland Aero           17.4   0.0    10.2  -0.4    13.8  -0.2    108   98%
Tauranga Aero           17.6  +0.3     8.4  -0.9    13.0  -0.3    154  139%    n/a   n/a
Hamilton Aero           16.3  -0.5     5.9  -0.5    11.1  -0.5    124  116%
Hamilton, Ruakura       16.7  -0.2     6.7  -0.2    11.7  -0.2    111  115%    137   99%
Wellington, Kelburn     14.0  -0.3     8.8  -0.2    11.4  -0.3     98   88%    129   97%
Christchurch Aero       13.4  -0.9     2.6  -1.1     8.0  -1.0     45   77%    134   96%
Dunedin, Musselburgh    12.9  +0.2     5.2  -0.7     9.0  -0.3     41   63%    146  134%
Greymouth Aero          14.4  -0.1     7.6  +0.5    11.0  +0.2    159   81%    119  116%

Nev wrote:I see Dunedin recorded its highest ever May sunshine, Queenstown its second highest and Blenheim its third highest.


Just for the record, May's national average temp of 10.5C was 0.3C below normal.

And the month's highest temp of 23.4C was recorded at Waione on the 10th, while the lowest temp of -6.9C was recorded at Middlemarch on the 22nd.