Wellington, Jan 8 || 2024 was New Zealand's 10th-warmest year on record, and eight of New Zealand's 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2013, according to the annual climate summary published by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) on Wednesday.
The ongoing warming trend observed both locally and globally is consistent with human-caused climate change, which is largely driven by human greenhouse gas emissions, said a NIWA statement, adding atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels continued to rise, surpassing 420 parts per million (ppm) at NIWA's monitoring station during 2024.
The 2024 nationwide average temperature calculated from NIWA's seven station series was 13.25 degrees Celsius, being 0.51 degree Celsius above the 1991-2020 annual average, it said, adding eight months of 2024 had temperatures that were well above average or above average.
The prevalence of west-southwest winds contributed to a dry year for many northern and eastern areas of New Zealand, with the dryness exceptional in some locations, said the annual climate summary, adding several extreme rainfall events occurred throughout the year, with four local state of emergency declarations, it said.