The MetService has the data to back up your feelings.
Meteorologist Braydon White said for the "Meteorological Summer", which runs December to February, the city’s average temperature was 15.0°C.
"The previous two summers of 23/24 and 24/25 had an average of 15.8°C, so this summer was on the cooler side.
"The country had quite transient high pressure systems this summer.
"We had very few periods where a high pressure system sat over the country for days, barely moving, bringing that classic hot and calm summery weather.
"Instead, we saw a mobile setup where we would get high pressure for a day or two, then it would get quickly shunted out of the way by the next low pressure or frontal system."
The hottest day of summer was December 7, with a high of 29.9°C. This was closely followed by December 5 with a high of 29.7°C.
"However, the hottest day of 2025 and the summer was actually in spring, with November 26 reaching 30.9°C," Mr White said.
He said one revealing statistic was the number of warm days Dunedin had this summer (defined as 4°C or more above average).
"This summer there have been five — three of which were early December. The other two were January 10 and January 11.
"In comparison, the summer of 2024/25 had seven warm days, four in December and three in February, and the summer of 2023/24 had 15 warm days, scattered throughout the summer.
"So there have been very few of those hot summer days this year, especially when compared to two years ago, and none during the big summer break where instead we saw nine days of colder temperatures (4°C or more below average) between December 19 and January 9."
This summer saw a number of low pressure systems sit to the east of the country, he said.
"These slow moving low systems drove colder southwesterlies across the country, especially across the lower South Island, which cooled temperatures down even on days when it was relatively fine.
"Combine that with above average rainfall, significantly more than the last two summers, and it’s no surprise that this summer has fallen a bit flat."
