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

The Taranaki region is often quite windy because of its exposure to disturbed weather systems from the Tasman Sea, but it has few climate extremes with warm summers and reasonably mild 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 Taranaki 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 Taranaki include changes in average temperature, sea level rise and rainfall patterns. In general, Taranaki, like much of the west coast of New Zealand, is likely to become warmer and wetter.

Climate scientists estimate that Taranaki's temperature could be up to 3°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.

Taranaki could be up to 20% 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 crop growing conditions and faster growth of pasture, with corresponding increases in livestock production, as a result of higher temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations (expected by 2030 to increase productivity of pasture by 10-20%). There are also likely to be opportunities to grow new crops.

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.

Taranaki's climate

Because of its exposure to disturbed weather systems from the Tasman Sea, this region is often quite windy, but has few climate extremes. The most settled weather occurs during summer and early autumn. Summers are warm. Typical summer daytime maximum air temperatures range from 19°C to 24°C, seldom exceeding 30°C. Winters are relatively mild with daytime maximum air temperatures ranging from 10°C to 14°C but are normally the most unsettled time of the year. Frost occurs inland during clear calm conditions in winter. Annual sunshine hours average about 2000 hours. Northwesterly airflows prevail and sea breezes occasionally occur along the coast during summer.

Last updated: 20 March 2008