You weren’t imagining it — winter has kicked off with a wet start across much of the country, Earth Sciences confirms.
In its latest monthly climate summary for June 2025, the agency formerly named NIWA said temperatures were above or well above average for most of the country, particularly in areas such as Tasman, Otago, eastern Southland, and Fiordland.
Earth Sciences climate scientist Gregor Macara said: “The nationwide average temperature of 9.4°C was 0.7°C above the June normal, making it the 16th-warmest June on record since 1909.”
The report said well above normal amounts of rain fell on regions such as Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Taranaki, Wellington, and much of the South Island.
Levels of soil moisture reflected the rainfall pattern, Macara said.
“Drier-than-normal soils remained in Hawke’s Bay, while soils were wetter than normal across much of eastern South Island, from Marlborough to Dunedin.”
The highest recorded temperature in June was 23.2C in Whakatu, Hawke’s Bay. Meanwhile, the lowest temperature was recorded at Aoraki Mount Cook, at -12.9C.
The highest one-day rainfall was recorded in Milford Sound, with 151mm on June 25. In Cape Turnagain, located part way between the bottom of Hawke’s Bay and the Cook Strait, the strongest wind gust of 191km/h was recorded on June 1.
In the main centres, Auckland was recorded as the warmest, Tauranga was recorded as the wettest and sunniest, Christchurch was the coolest and driest, and Dunedin was the overall least sunny.
Throughout 2025 so far, Earth Sciences said the sunniest locations have been Taranaki, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Nelson.
