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A Dry Start To Autumn For Much Of New Zealand
March was a mild and mostly settled month for Aotearoa New Zealand. However, the significant rain event in the upper North Island during the final week of the month led to states of emergency, mass evacuations, power outages, emergency rescues and widespread road closures from Northland to the Bay of Plenty. Several locations experienced near record March daily rainfall totals.
Further Highlights:
-The highest temperature was 30.9°C, observed at Alexandra on 7 March.
-The lowest temperature was -2.6°C, observed at Pūkaki Airport 3 March.
-The highest 1-day rainfall was 214 mm, recorded at Cathedral Cove on 26 March.
-The highest wind gust was 163 km/h, observed at South West Cape on 6 March.
-Of the six main centres, Tauranga and Auckland was the warmest, Auckland was the sunniest, Tauranga was the wettest, Dunedin was the driest, Christchurch was the coolest, and Wellington was the least sunny.
-The sunniest four regions in 2026 so far are Taranaki (802 hours), Tasman (774 hours), wider Nelson (769 hours), and Auckland (723 hours).
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