June 2025 mean sea level air pressure was higher than normal to the south of Aotearoa New Zealand, and mostly near normal over the country. This was associated with more easterly winds than normal for ...

Methane (CH₄) is New Zealand’s most significant greenhouse gas, making up over 50% of the country’s emissions, primarily from farmed livestock and waste facilities. Unlike CO₂, methane is more potent ...

The loss of contact with the MethaneSAT satellite is a blow for everyone involved, but the associated agricultural research will continue, says the scientific lead of New Zealand’s MethaneSAT ...

David Smol, Board Chair for the New Zealand Earth Sciences Institute has announced the appointment of John Morgan as the Transition Chief Executive. This appointment is effective from 1 July 2025 and ...

State Owned Enterprises Minister Simeon Brown and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Shane Reti today jointly announced that Cabinet has agreed to proceed with NIWA’s acquisition of ...

Outlook summary In March 2025, the oceanic markers of La Niña weakened significantly, with most now falling within the ENSO-neutral range. The atmosphere, however, still exhibits signals consistent ...

New Zealand could face twice as many of the most extreme atmospheric rivers by the end of the century, according to new research. Not only could the narrow bands of concentrated water vapour increase, ...

Overview 2024 was Aotearoa New Zealand’s 10th-warmest year on record. The 2024 nationwide average temperature calculated from NIWA’s seven station series was 13.25˚C, being 0.51˚C above the 1991-2020 ...

Regional predictions for January – March 2025 The tables below show the probabilities (or percent chances) for each of three categories: above average, near average, and below average. In the absence ...

To give us insights to sea surface temperatures, NIWA scientists have combined predictions from 8 climate models from institutes around the world.

November 2024 was characterised by a large belt of higher-than-normal mean sea level pressure that straddled Aotearoa New Zealand and the surrounding seas. This pressure setup resulted in a relatively ...

Regional predictions for December 2024 – February 2025 The tables below show the probabilities (or percent chances) for each of three categories: above average, near average, and below average. In the ...