While Middlemarch recorded the country's highest November temperature of 29.5degC, most of Otago found the month cool and wet.
Much stronger-than-normal southwest winds affected New Zealand during November, which produced a cooler-than-normal month along the southern and western coastline of the South Island, the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research's (Niwa) November climate report says.
"It was an unsettled and very wet month across much of the South Island," climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said.
Dunedin was the coolest of the six main centres, recording a lowest temperature of 12degC (near average) compared with Christchurch's 12.9degC (below average), Wellington's 13.5degC (near average) and Auckland's 15.9degC (near average). Dunedin also recorded its fourth-lowest extreme minimum temperature of 1.2degC. The national average temperature for the month was 13.5degC.
Dunedin missed out on being the wettest area in the country, with Wellington (98mm) the only city to beat Dunedin's (near normal) 68mm.
Inland rainfall doubled normal November totals in parts of Central Otago and the Lakes District, but Ranfurly (93mm) was the only one to reach near record levels - it was the township's second-highest rainfall since records began in 1943. Despite the rain, significant soil moisture deficits were observed in Central Otago at the end of the month.
While gales battered Southland and Otago on November 25, they did not reach record levels.
