I was right but I was wrong

A few times recently I’ve mentioned the poor weather so far this summer. I called it cool and rainy. Well, I was right—and wrong.

The monthly climate summary report from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)’s National Climate Centre said that the average December national temperature was 1.9 °C lower than normal.

December was unusually cool for the time of year, due to more frequent southerly winds. Temperatures were 2 to 3 °C below normal (making it coldest start to December for many years) throughout New Zealand during the first half of the month, with little change during the last two weeks. For the month, many locations experienced one of their coldest December’s [sic] on record. Wellington recorded its coldest December in more than 70 years, while New Plymouth, Wanganui, and Blenheim had their coldest December in at least 60 years.

So, it was cooler than normal. However, the report noted that “Rainfall was also below normal in much of Auckland…” In fact, the report says that overall “Auckland was the warmest and driest”. It certainly didn’t seem that way.

The cooler weather wasn’t good for beach going or other summer activities, but it did mean that day-to-day living was quite comfortable, and way better than typical December Chicago weather. For me, that’s certainly a good thing—and I know I’m right about that, at least.