This pattern delivered more frequent warm northerly and north-easterly winds than normal, consistent with La Nina conditions.

The summer got off to a hot start with nearly the entire country observing well-above average warmth during December, which was the second warmest December on record.
January 2018 was the hottest month on record for New Zealand with a mean of 20.3C.

February was characterised by the passage of ex-tropical cyclones Fehi and Gita, which brought significant amounts of rainfall to parts of the country.

Other highlights:

Alexandra had the highest temperature of 38.7C on January 30 Mt Cook Airport and Tekapo had the lowest temperature of 0.2C on December 20.

Upper Takaka had the highest one-day rainfall of 297mm on January 17 Akitio had the strongest wind gust of 165km/h on December 19.

Of the main centres:

Auckland was warmest, Hamilton was wettest and least sunny.

Wellington was sunniest, Dunedin was coolest and driest.