New Zealand has recorded its warmest June since recordkeeping began, as ski fields struggle to open and experts predict shorter southern winters in the future.
A range of factors led to the record, including more winds coming from the milder north rather than the Antarctic south, and unusually warm ocean temperatures, said Gregor Macara, a climate scientist at the government-owned National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
He said the vagaries of weather will change from month to month. “But the underlying trend is of increasing temperatures and overall warming,” Macara said.
The average temperature in June was 10.6 degrees Celsius (51 Fahrenheit), the research agency reported Monday. That’s 2 degrees C above the 30-year average for June and more than 0.3 C higher than the previous record set in 2003 and again in 2014. Recordkeeping began in 1909.
Macara said the average temperature in New Zealand had increased by about 1 C over the past century. He said that if the trend continues, people can expect later and milder winters, followed by earlier springs.
