NIWA has released its monthly climate summary for July, revealing who had the most mild mid-winter and where conditions were coldest.
The institute said temperatures were "higher than average for many parts of the country" — but there were some frosty exceptions.
"Of the six main centres in July 2024, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch was the driest and coolest, Hamilton was the wettest, Tauranga was the sunniest, and Dunedin was the least sunny," the report said.
"The highest temperature was 21.5C, observed at Waipara West on July 27.
"The lowest temperature was -8.9C, observed at Mt Cook Airport on July 14.
"The highest one-day rainfall was 96mm, recorded at Milford Sound on July 26.
"The highest wind gust was 156km/h, observed at Cape Turnagain on July 2."
And the sunniest four regions in 2024 so far are Nelson, Bay of Plenty, Marlborough and Taranaki in that order, NIWA said.
"[There were generally] extended periods of fine and settled weather thanks to a slow-moving high pressure system.
"[New Zealand's] overall average temperature was 9.0C, which is 0.9C above the 1991-2020 July average," the institute added.
"Rainfall was below or well below normal for much of the country but above or well above normal for several parts of the South Island."
And even though "temperatures were higher than average for many parts of the country", NIWA said, "more severe than usual" frosts occurred in some inland parts of the country.
For example, Tūrangi's mean minimum temperature for the month (-0.9C) was its lowest for July since records began in 1968.
The main centres
Auckland had a mean temperature of 11.4C for the month, with just 89mm of rain recorded — although NIWA is missing two days of data.
The country's most populous city saw 168 hours of sunshine with one day of data missing.
Wellington had a mean temperature of 9.9C, with 127mm of rainfall and 113 hours of sunshine recorded.
Christchurch felt an average temperature of 6.6C for the month, with only 29mm of rainfall and 126 hours of sunshine.
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