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How might climate change affect my region? Climate change in Southland

Most of Southland is characterised by cool coastal breezes with mild summers and cold, frosty winters.

A change in our climate as a result of global warming and other influences means we need to think about how we are going to plan for and manage the projected impacts of climate change in Southland and New Zealand. But we also need to take appropriate action to reduce our share of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming and climate change impacts.

Some of the predicted impacts of a moderate rate of climate change for Southland include changes in average temperature, sea level rise and rainfall patterns. In general, Southland is likely to be warmer and wetter.

Climate scientists estimate that Southland's temperature could be up to 2.5°C warmer over the next 70-100 years. This compares to a temperature increase in New Zealand during last century of about 0.7°C. To put this in perspective, the 1997/98 summer, which many New Zealanders remember as particularly long, hot and dry, was only about 0.9°C above New Zealand's average for the 1990s.

Southland could be up to 30% wetter with more varied rainfall patterns, and flooding could become up to four times as frequent by 2070.

The effects of climate change may bring significant costs to the community.

If extreme weather events become more frequent or severe, the costs and damages associated with them are also likely to increase. The cost of dealing with stock losses, replacing or repairing damaged roads, bridges, houses and stormwater drains, and dealing with increased soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients can be formidable. Recent extreme weather events such as the Marlborough and Canterbury droughts, Cyclone Bola, the "weather bomb" in the Waikato/Coromandel area, and coastal flooding during the Waitangi Day storm, have shown how vulnerable our society and economy is to the weather and climate.

There are likely to be benefits and opportunities from a change in climate too. Farmers could benefit from better pasture due to warmer winters. There could also be opportunities to grow new crops, with a longer growing season and fewer frosts.

However, if the rate and magnitude of climate change is not slowed down, that is, if we don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions, any beneficial effects of climate change are expected to diminish and the adverse effects and long-term risks expected to increase.

Southland's climate

Most of this region is characterised by cool coastal breezes, and absence of shelter from the unsettled weather that moves over the sea from the south and southwest. Hot northwesterly conditions in summer can occasionally bring high temperatures. Typical summer daytime maximum air temperatures range from 16°C to 23°C, occasionally rising above 30°C. Winters are cold with infrequent snowfall and frequent frost. Typical winter daytime maximum air temperatures range from 8°C to 12°C. Hours of bright sunshine average about 1600 hours annually and are often affected by low coastal cloud or by high cloud in foehn wind conditions. Southwesterlies prevail for much of the time.

Last updated: 20 March 2008