Air temperatures are rising

Average annual air temperatures are rising.

Average annual temperature in Aotearoa has increased by 1.26°C (± 0.27°C) between 1909 and 2022 (114 years), with 8 of the 10 warmest years on record in the past decade.

The hottest days of the year have increased by over 0.5°C during the past 20 years across many populated areas of Aotearoa.

Growing seasons are lengthening and frost days are declining in most places.

The following resources provide information about rising air temperatures and how we know human activities are creating these changes.

Articles

• Evidence of climate change in Aotearoa

• Human contributions to climate change – how we know

• Temperature – Stats NZ environmental indicator

Media

• Temperature anomalies – infographic

• Climate change – a warming world – video

• New Zealand’s annual temperature is rising – image

Activities

• Interpreting representations using climate data

• Regional weather data

• Using weather data

• Utilising Our climate, our biodiversity, our future

Diagram: Ministry for the Environment, Stats NZ, and data providers, and licensed by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.