Rate the climate: Christchurch, New Zealand (hottest, averages, temperature, rainfall)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Kind of reminds me of the weather on the west coast like northern CA, OR, WA, or Southern British Columbia. Which is funny because an Australian once told me not to bother going to NZ and go to BC instead because they look the same and its closer. I'm not sure if that is true or not.
C+. Summer could be warmer and longer. More sunshine and more rain would be good as well. I like the warm Norwest winds they get (before they get too gusty). Wind from the east tends to be unpleasant. I could live there again, but it certainly wouldn't be my first choice.
Like all southern hemisphere climates (outside of the tropical zones of course) it seems…Christchurch has rather cool summers; no month has average daily highs above 75 F (24 C)…and only two months (Jan/Feb) even have highs above 70 F (21 C). The mean temp of the warmest month is 63. 5 F (17 C). Of course, considering this is a Do climate (temperate oceanic) that is not at all unusual, as Do stations here in the USA like Seattle are not all that much different in the warmest month (Seattle is 66 F in warmest month). However, like most Do zones while winters are cold (below 45 F/7 C in the coldest months)…there seems to be little truly cold weather (coldest temp of all time is only 13 F) and it only snows once or twice a year according to the link. The 70 days with frost seems a bit odd (high) for Do climate (Seattle averages more like 30 annually). Sun hrs are not shown annually, but I would guess they are in the 2000 - 2200 range.
Admittedly, as a warm weather fan…I would prefer a hotter, lower latitude climate – however Christchurch still seems like a C+ climate, as at least 6 months (Oct – April) that would have comfortable temps for me.
Interestingly enough, I found a short link site with a comparison of New Zealand’s climate with the UK (another Do climate). The paper seems to try to point out that the NZ climate is superior to the UK climate:
Like all southern hemisphere climates (outside of the tropical zones of course) it seems…Christchurch has rather cool summers; no month has average daily highs above 75 F (24 C)…and only two months (Jan/Feb) even have highs above 70 F (21 C). The mean temp of the warmest month is 63. 5 F (17 C). Of course, considering this is a Do climate (temperate oceanic) that is not at all unusual, as Do stations here in the USA like Seattle are not all that much different in the warmest month (Seattle is 66 F in warmest month). However, like most Do zones while winters are cold (below 45 F/7 C in the coldest months)…there seems to be little truly cold weather (coldest temp of all time is only 13 F) and it only snows once or twice a year according to the link. The 70 days with frost seems a bit odd (high) for Do climate (Seattle averages more like 30 annually). Sun hrs are not shown annually, but I would guess they are in the 2000 - 2200 range.
Admittedly, as a warm weather fan…I would prefer a hotter, lower latitude climate – however Christchurch still seems like a C+ climate, as at least 6 months (Oct – April) that would have comfortable temps for me.
Interestingly enough, I found a short link site with a comparison of New Zealand’s climate with the UK (another Do climate). The paper seems to try to point out that the NZ climate is superior to the UK climate:
I could be wrong on this but I think the main difference between Christchurch and Seattle has mainly to do with the fact that the Seattle gets the occasional outbreaks of polar (arctic) air in winter like most of the rest of North America whereas Christchurch doesn't. In some sense, I'd argue that Seattle is even more oceanic than Christchurch since the diurnal range in winter seems much smaller (less frosts in Seattle on average) and there is less day to day variable weather. Winters in Seattle tend to be monotonously gray whereas in Christchurch I get a sense of much more dynamic day to day weather in winter even if the temperatures don't change much.
I could be wrong on this but I think the main difference between Christchurch and Seattle has mainly to do with the fact that the Seattle gets the occasional outbreaks of polar (arctic) air in winter like most of the rest of North America whereas Christchurch doesn't. In some sense, I'd argue that Seattle is even more oceanic than Christchurch since the diurnal range in winter seems much smaller (less frosts in Seattle on average) and there is less day to day variable weather. Winters in Seattle tend to be monotonously gray whereas in Christchurch I get a sense of much more dynamic day to day weather in winter even if the temperatures don't change much.
30-year average sunshine for Ch'ch is 2145 hours, about 50-51% of the recordable. The seasonal variation is small - the sunniest months by % get about 53%, and only 3 months are below the 50 mark.
A couple of elementary NZ-UK differences:
(1) NZ is much sunnier - England mean is about 1460 hours (1971-2000) and UK average is only 1340 hours. NZ is around the 2000 mark.
(2) The UK is warmer relative to its latitude, but the difference in mean latitude is too great for that to compensate. Sea level annual means in NZ range from about 10C to 16C.
30-year average sunshine for Ch'ch is 2145 hours, about 50-51% of the recordable. The seasonal variation is small - the sunniest months by % get about 53%, and only 3 months are below the 50 mark.
A couple of elementary NZ-UK differences:
(1) NZ is much sunnier - England mean is about 1460 hours (1971-2000) and UK average is only 1340 hours. NZ is around the 2000 mark.
(2) The UK is warmer relative to its latitude, but the difference in mean latitude is too great for that to compensate. Sea level annual means in NZ range from about 10C to 16C.
Christchurch is better compared to northern Spain, as they're at similar latitudes.
Interestingly enough, I found a short link site with a comparison of New Zealand’s climate with the UK (another Do climate). The paper seems to try to point out that the NZ climate is superior to the UK climate:
The site is designed to get mostly British people to emigrate to NZ so I suspect perhaps a slight agenda at play maybe? I've seen NZ tourism/emigration adverts on our TV before and they do tend to portray warm, sunny weather and subtropical-looking landscapes. The NZ climate IMO is 'like ours only better' but it would and should be, considering it's 10-15 degrees nearer the Equator.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RWood
30-year average sunshine for Ch'ch is 2145 hours, about 50-51% of the recordable. The seasonal variation is small - the sunniest months by % get about 53%, and only 3 months are below the 50 mark.
Do you know why that is (not just for Chch, but for NZ at large) when it's not the case in other maritime climates like the PNW and Western Europe? I assume having a shorter sea track on a westerly/northwesterly plays a factor, but then unlike us you don't have a big land mass to the east to counteract it.
Do you know why that is (not just for Chch, but for NZ at large) when it's not the case in other maritime climates like the PNW and Western Europe? I assume having a shorter sea track on a westerly/northwesterly plays a factor, but then unlike us you don't have a big land mass to the east to counteract it.
The seasonal variation on lands directly adjacent to the US west coast is very low; New Zealand seems rather similar.
The seasonal variation on lands directly adjacent to the US west coast is very low; New Zealand seems rather similar.
What do you mean by adjacent? In Idaho for instance Boise gets 400 sunshine hours in July vs. 105 in December. That is quite a seasonal variation. Spokane goes from 381 hours in July to 59 hours in December.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
