Best Time To Travel To: New Zealand
New Zealand consists of two main islands - the North and South Islands - and a few offshore islands. The country lies between 34 ° to 47 ° South in the South Pacific.
New Zealand offers a lot of variety in terms of climate. Basically you have to know: Summer is in New Zealand when it is winter in Europe and Winter is there when it is summer in Europe. New Zealand is mostly traveled in its entirety, i. H. both the North and South Islands. So you should get some information here.
The weather in New Zealand is relatively changeable. The weather is often called British, because rainfall is well distributed all year round. But you can't just say that across the board for all of New Zealand. There are very friendly sections and New Zealand can also bring you a lot of sun. After all, the number of hours of sunshine per day varies from 5 in winter to around 7 in summer. That goes for most parts of New Zealand. In general, the north and east coast are sunnier and less rainy than the south.
Both islands are relatively mountainous. There are quite high peaks in the southern Alps on the South Island. These rise behind the west coast, which is why it rains a lot there. All high-altitude parts of New Zealand have snowfall in winter, the very high parts can have snow all year round. Permanent snow fields and glacier areas are found especially in the Alps. This is favored because, as mentioned above, the west coast of the South Island is very rainy and here we already know between 2,000 and over 5000mm of precipitation per year. It can also snow in the lowlands in winter, with snowfall being the exception in the far north of the North Island.
The north of the North Island is a certain special case anyway. Here you will find a subtropical climate with very mild winters and very warm summers. Here you can plan a beach holiday from December to March. The climate table of Auckland is typical for the region, here we have one of the warmest parts of New Zealand. But the climate tables for Wellington and Napier also show that the temperatures of the North Island on the coast are generally very pleasant.
In contrast, the temperatures of the South Island are always slightly below those of the North Island. Basically we have a moderate climate here. The west coast of the South Island is rough and rainy. In the Fiordland it also rains very often.
The example of Hokitika shows that there is much more rainfall on the west coast of the South Island than elsewhere. The climate table of Christchurch in the Canterbury Plains shows that this is a fairly dry part of the country. But the temperatures in winter are quite severe and frost can occur again and again. Another important climatic region is the Southern Alps with the Franz Josef Glacier and Mt Cook. Both are popular destinations for vacationers. Here you have to reckon with cold and snow in winter, spring and autumn. The plains in the east of the Alps are often warmed by a rather warm foehn wind. It usually comes when westerly winds are warmed over the Alps. This is similar to the foehn in the European Alps.
New Zealand is widely considered a good year-round destination. For those who want it warm, December to March in the north of the North Island could be interesting. Basically, the winter or the phase from October to April should be the most interesting for Europeans anyway. Then it's summer in New Zealand and in some regions the weather is quite nice. In the Southern Alps you can find good snow conditions at the very top.
