New Zealand
Weather locations in New Zealand
Choose a location in New Zealand to view its available forecast products.
New Zealand illustrated weather map
17 mapped locations
Only locations with a verified coordinate are marked. The complete location list is below.
Map Disclaimer: Maps and geographic illustrations on this website are simplified, stylized representations for weather visualization only. They are not drawn to scale and should not be interpreted as authoritative representations of national boundaries, territorial status, or geographic relationships.
Climate of New Zealand
Country climate guideNew Zealand is a long, narrow country in the south-west Pacific, extending over 1,600 kilometres from the warm northern tip of the North Island to the sub-antarctic islands near the foot of the South Island. Its weather changes daily rather than seasonally, and the country is best described as temperate with strong regional variation. Auckland averages about 22 °C in January and around 15 °C in July; further south, Christchurch averages about 21 °C in January and only about 8 °C in July.
Main climate types
No part of the country is polar or tropical; almost all of it is classified as temperate. Four regions behave differently. The northern half of the North Island is warmest and is sometimes grouped with the subtropics. Wellington, the capital, is the windiest major city. Canterbury on the east coast of the South Island is the driest lowland, and the western side of that island, including the fiords, is the wettest.
Temperatures
Temperature follows latitude and altitude closely. Summer, December to February, brings monthly means in the low 20s °C in the main centres, with the northern districts reaching the high 20s °C and inland Canterbury and Otago topping 30 °C on hot days. Winter, June to August, drops to about 15 °C in Auckland and around 8 °C in Christchurch. Snow falls regularly above about 1,000 metres in the Southern Alps.
Rainfall
Annual rainfall ranges from about 600 millimetres in the rain shadow east of the Southern Alps to more than 6,000 millimetres on the western coast of the South Island, where some stations are the wettest in the country. Auckland and the upper North Island receive 1,200 to 1,500 millimetres. Rain is spread through the year, though the west and south-west coasts are wettest in winter and the eastern centres driest in summer.
When to go
Because the seasons are reversed, the austral summer, December to February, is the time for beaches and hiking in the north, while the winter of June to August is the season for the ski fields of the Southern Alps. Spring and autumn are the best all-round choices for the eastern cities. At any time of year the weather can change within an afternoon.