Publication Date November 9, 2017 | the Guardian

New Zealand's winter shorter by a month over 100 years

New Zealand
The number of frosts experienced throughout the winter months has also declined. Photo: David C Tomlinson/Getty Images
The number of frosts experienced throughout the winter months has also declined. Photo: David C Tomlinson/Getty Images

New Zealand’s winter has gotten shorter by a month over the last 100 years, meaning “true winter” weather with very low temperatures, frosts and snow starts significantly later in the year and ends earlier.

Brett Mullan, from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), crunched the temperature records from two 30-year-periods over the last century to see if New Zealand was experiencing the same contraction of winter weather noted in other parts of the world.