Just like the last lockdown, the weather has been warmer and drier than average in Otago.
Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said the latest lockdown prompted a feeling of deja vu for him — particularly when Akaroa recorded a record-equalling 23degC on Tuesday this week.
He said it got him "wondering" whether the weather was always better during Alert Level 4.
So he and Niwa data scientist Neelesh Rampal "crunched some numbers" and discovered the number of dry days and the temperatures were higher during the Level 4 lockdown in March and April last year, and the same could be said so far for August this year.
Mr Noll said the analysis was more coincidental than scientifically remarkable.
"On average, lockdown days have featured more high pressure around New Zealand and particularly west of the country, encouraging more settled conditions.
"The sample size of about 40 days isn’t nearly long enough to say anything specific about trends, but it represents an interesting data point that might be more noticeable since we’re all spending more time indoors.’’
The lockdown phenomenon of warmer-than-average days was being felt across the North Island, the top of the South Island and around Otago.
"Dry days, with less than 1mm of rain, have been common during Level 4s, past and present, especially in the North Island and eastern South Island.
"This includes Otago, Canterbury, eastern Marlborough, Nelson, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, eastern Waikato, and parts of Auckland and Northland."
Looking ahead, Mr Noll said there would be a spell of wet weather from today into early next week but, beyond that, the weather would return to tranquillity.
"During September, patterns of high pressure may again dominate, bringing increased sunshine and below-normal rainfall to swathes of the country.
"Temperatures in eastern areas could reach 20degC to 25degC at times.
"If we’re basing lockdown on the weather, we may be here for a while."
