[Tee&Dee]

Hi all

Quick question, dumb as it may be..

How does the NZ climate compare to what we are used to in the UK.
I have done my homework and looked at a number of weather charts but what Im really looking for is a real human opinion, since the temperatures dont seem to be as wildly different as say in Australia.

Me and the family currently live in North Yorkshire (Im originally from Northumberland) and try as might I cant really get a feel for the weather in NZ.

We are hopefully looking towards Wellington, so any insights would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Tee

[dave k]

Well I'm over in Wellington from N.Yorks. In short Climate here = much nicer!
Kiwis tend to think that Welly has rubbish weather...but compared to Yorkshire it's glorious. The main thing for me is you get a lot more sunshine here, even in the depths of winter.
Summer seems to last a lot longer with pretty good weather from Nov to about March/April. And you get lots of days where it's clear, hot & sunny ALL day - instead of 20 mins in the morning then clouding over to stay grey & humid all day. Like it tends to do in York.
The main caveat to this is that it's terrifically windy at times as I'm sure you already know...but I don't really mind that. Keeps things fresh.
AND it can feel much colder inside in Winter because of the lack of heating, but temperature-wise outside it rarely drops below freezing.

Hope that helps!

[Sunshine20]

The climate in NZ in Wellington is no where near is hot or dry as Sydney or Melbourne. If sun and warm weather (i.e. beach weather) is a big factor think again about Wellington. Auckland is very wet - loads more rain than London, more hours of sunshine but loads more rain. We have been here three years in NZ and are off to Oz partly due to wanting a better climate - this is a popular reason to head over the Tasman for many Kiwis - you are warned.

[sarahw]

We've been very pleasantly surprised by the climate - I think if you do a search on www.weather.co.uk you'll find climate statistics. Try searching for both the town you're looking to move to in NZ and the town you live in the UK on and compare...

Welly is dryer than Auckland but Auckland is warmer. Sunshine hours seem pretty good & in no way does a NZ winter compare with a UK one (in a good way!). I wear more clothes out here in winter than I did at home since a lot of places (including my office) have no heating - so 12 degrees feels nothing like 12 degrees in the UK! That said - its never been too cold for us to take a walk on the beach or go out for the day. Rain-wise its not been terribly rainy so far this last 6 months - you tend to get very heavy downpours & in general they seem to have been mostly at night. That's not to say you don't get rainy days but its nothing like the UK where you can have weeks of rainy grey days - you have it broken up with bright blue skies and wonderful sunny days.

Weather compared with UK gets a big thumbs up from me & I'm looking forward to the summer - if you're looking for a hot climate then NZ probably isn't for you but if you're just looking for a better overall climate and longer summers than the UK then you're fine! :nice1

[Moorf]

Down here in Chch it's certainly colder than the UK winters (and we lived in Scotland!), but this is offset by blues skies and warmth in the sun. Cold, frosty crisp mornings (and I mean COLD!!) learn how to stop down the fire before you go to bed! Very little rain (at least so far!). Seems drier here than anywhere else. Very little wind.

Summer was lovely - not as hot as Oz, and not humid. Hot sun. Temps c. 25degs.

[GeorgeM]

Down here in Chch it's certainly colder than the UK winters

I have to disagree with you here Moorf - winters may seem colder than in the UK because of the differences in buildings (no CH, DG, poor insulation etc) but there is no way that a Salisbury winter was warmer than a Chch one.

Where we lived, on the edge of the New Forest, I would frequently have to clear the windscreen of really thick ice/frost every day for a week or more. In three and a half Sumner winters I've done this fewer than 5 times.

And as you note, when the sun is shining it can be very warm - the week before last (the equivalent of Christmas week in the UK) Rolleston recorded 21 degrees one day!

[Moorf]

Sorry thought I'd put on the post that we lived in Scotland which is, is it not, part of the UK :laugh - I'll make it clearer next time to avoid confusion! :roll:

Personally, we find it colder here than the UK... better? :laugh :laugh

[GeorgeM]

I thought that we were all expressing personal opinions :laugh

My (personal) expectation would have been that Salisbury (in the soft South) would have been considerably warmer than Scotland, so therefore if I found Chch to be warmer than Salisbury by extension I would expect it to be even warmerer (!) than Scotland. All spoken with very little experience of Scotland of course (apart from a couple of business visits to pharmaceutical plants just outside Glasgow a decade and a half ago)...

I really am very surprised that you find Chch colder than Scotland, but you're the one with that experience so I'm not arguing... :cheers

[Moorf]

Yep, we were surprised too, and I keep being told by grinning locals that it isn't winter yet and it gets colder than this during July and August :eek

The weather channel has our location in Scotland and here as "comparable", definitely sunnier here but get out of that sun and brrrr!

[adamsat]

After the initial shock the winter weather here seems a lot better. (ok it's only been 4 weeks!).

Rangiora does seem to get things a little better the Chch itself, and compared to SE Essex the winter seems fantastic. I can't ever remember being able to wear a T-shirt on Southend beach in January, but on a clear day you can certainly do that at Wood End at this time of year.

The fog has been a surpise though, especially last Thurdsay when my flight returned to Wellington after two aborted attempts to land at Chch airport :eek

[mark in japan]

weather in auckalnd very changeable, truly 4 seasons in 1 hour. but winter much warmer than uk. been over to the coromandel today in nothign but a sweater, even at the top of those "hills". 18 degrees i believe in auckland today.

[Paul and Linda]

Hi all, looking at the statistics, welly is about 5 to 6 C higher for average max and min temperatures for the full three months of winter than NE england. Is the percieved further (outdoor) cooling in NZ to do with wind chill?

PS with average daily minimums of 1,0 and 0 for NE england for dec, jan and feb, we are looking forward to some improvement surely?

In fact the average daily min for wellington for the 3 months of winter are the same as the average daily maximums for NE england! So in other words the warmest it gets during the day (on average) in the winter in NZ is the coldest (on average) it gets in the day in Welly.

So much for the theory :roll: , we'll be over in 2 months to test it out!
:nice1

Paul

[veronica]

I think the winters are warmer than the Essex climate we are used to. but it certainly feels colder indoors and when there is a southerly wind blowing. But when the sun comes out it still gives out some good heat. This winter seems a lot colder than the 2004 one though, seems to have got cold earlier., last year cant remember scraping the frost off of the car windowscreen as many times as we have already this year. :uhoh

[sarahw]

Paul - the wind chill does bring that temperature down when we have a southerly but on the whole the temperatures are pretty good for winter compared with the UK. For example today was beautiful full sunshine, blue skies, (sunglasses weather - blinding sunshine!) temperature got quite warm - sitting outside in your coat weather at lunch-time but when the sun goes down - chilly!!

[Carol]

I wonder about the cold here v cold in UK comments..

There is no way I could say it was colder here in winter than it is in Newcastle in January!!
But...
the houses are most definitely colder.... it takes me ages to get warmed up sometimes - whereas in the UK I used to feel the cold as we stepped out the door because it was warmer inside....

I feel I'm rambling.....does anyone know what I mean? :laugh

[AliJax]

The Kiwis laugh at me I go outside for a warm. When the sun is shining the sun does warm the side that it is shining on and any part of you in the shade you can feel the cold.

It seems that the Icy cold nights have gone from Auckland We've had 2 or 3 mornings of frosty cars but only needed a warm kettle no scraping with the cd case or De-Icer needed.

Wind is a problem atm, and rain when it rains it'll rain a Really Good Lashing fill yer gutters & make streams in the road and then if there is a break in the clouds it'll be dry in 30 mins.

I like the Auckland Weather - you get proper rain, proper wind & proper Sun.

[Miffy]

So far I've found the weather comparable with the UK. But there is a difference bewteen the two islands. Its like comparing cornwall with the Highlands or western Ireland. Same sort of place / area / location but totally different weather systems.

I'm in Dunedin which is in the south so alot drier than the north Island. Its doesn't seem to be as damp as the UK (Essex) but the mornings are vrey 'fresh'. A clear night, will mean a frost and a cold start, BUT will bring blue skies and beautiful sunshine. The sun is alot warmer and stronger down here (its the lack of ozone ;) ). But when the wind blows ooooooh its a fierce!

During the weather on TV although it seems be warmer on the north Island especially the far north beyoned Auckland it dose seem to rain more. Its been around the 5-8 degrees here and way up north they are basking in near 20 degrees. But it does always seem to rain there.

We've had a few horrible rainey days but they are isoltated, and we do get snow here too especally on the high hills sorrounding us. We've had a couple of snowy days already with the proper winter (rest of July & Aug) still to come. (YAY! I love snow)

Not sure what to expect for the summer ... although Central Otago is ment to be the hotest part of NZ. The stats I can find and from what people say lots of sunshine (which will be strong so unless covered up you'll burn) but the air temp around 20 - 25. :cool

[foolsgold99]

It seems that the Icy cold nights have gone from Auckland We've had 2 or 3 mornings of frosty cars but only needed a warm kettle no scraping with the cd case or De-Icer needed.

You must leave for work very early, I leave at 7:40am and I've had exactly zero times this winter when I've had ice on the wind screen, and I love it. I lived in Scotland for 34 years, if I ever have to scrape another car in my life it'll be too soon

[jan]

What i find hard to grasp is, when I get in our car I look at the temp gage, 18' !! :eek No way, its 6pm and its freezing out there.

A nice sunny day like sunday, and it says 13' ?????? What! :eek

Me thinks we have a faulty gage. ha ha

[richard]

This is from http://www.niwa.co.nz/edu/resources/climate/:-

Data are mean monthly values of the number of days with ground frosts for the 1971-2000 period for locations having at least 5 complete years of data
______Auck__Well__ChCh
Apr____ 0 ____ 0 ____ 2
May ___ 1 ____ 1 ____ 9
Jun ____3 ____ 2 ____ 16
Jul ____ 4 ____ 3 ____ 16
Aug ___ 2 ____ 3 ____ 15
Sep ___ 1 ____ 1 ____ 9
Oct ___ 0 ____ 0 ____ 3
Nov ___ 0 ____ 0 ____ 1

[Tee&Dee]

Wow - thanks guys I appreciate your insights.
I am now happy that having grown up in Ashington (Northumberland,UK) I can cope with whatever New Zealand can throw at me !

Ok - maybe ask me that again after the first earthquake and I might feel different, but what the Hell ! ;)

[Carol]

Wow - thanks guys I appreciate your insights.
I am now happy that having grown up in Ashington (Northumberland,UK) I can cope with whatever New Zealand can throw at me !

Ok - maybe ask me that again after the first earthquake and I might feel different, but what the Hell ! ;)


I grew up in Guide Post and went to school in Bedlington!!!!!!!!
:nice1 :nice1 :nice1 :cheers :cheers :cheers :cheers