weather

Weather is ever present, ever changing and always interesting.

Our land-use and management decisions have consequences in extreme weather events. Natural ecosystems provide vital infrastructure that helps to reduce the impacts of natural hazards. For...

Our atmosphere and climate 2023 – an environmental report produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ – begins with this whakatauākī: Tiakina te...

Ururangi is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is connected to atmospheric conditions, winds and the sky. Ururangi means ‘winds of the sky’ and is...

Waipunarangi is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to the rains and other atmospheric conditions. Aotearoa New Zealand’s Ministry for the...

Koe feliuliuaki ‘a e ‘ea ‘oku ‘uhinga ia ki he ngaahi liliu kehekehe ‘oku hoko ki he kalaimeiti (Churchward, 1959) ‘o e fo’i mamani, pea koe...

Watching the Weather is a Connected journal that explores multiple aspects of weather in New Zealand. In addition to weather, the issue has a focus on...

Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural environment has been shaped by climate. It has influenced both the physical environment and the plants and animals that have adapted to...

Knowledge of tohu – biophysical indicators – has been passed down from tūpuna over many generations. From years of observation and tracking changes in the environment,...

Observation is a keystone of science. For millennia, people have observed nature to discover patterns in the weather. We’ve used these patterns as guides for where...

Earth is a dynamic system, made up of four central components known as subsystems – the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. These subsystems are interconnected by...

Climate change is defined as a long-term change to the Earth’s climate. But what does this mean? To understand climate change, we need to understand what...

Although weather and climate are closely related, they are not the same thing. The chief difference between weather and climate is time. Weather Weather is the...

This article explores the role of observation in weather prediction. It provides several examples of natural patterns and how they help to predict or explain the...

Weather has been important for human survival throughout history, affecting a wide range of human activities such as travel, navigation, events and celebrations, planting, harvesting, hunting...

Glaciers are getting smaller in most parts of the world – and at the fastest rates since record keeping began. Glaciers explained A glacier is a...

Have you ever wondered about the differences between cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes? It is all due to their location. When they occur in the South Pacific...

Each day, people talk about the weather. It affects our jobs, our leisure and our travel, so when meteorologists (scientists who forecast the weather) predict extreme...

As New Zealanders looking to the future, we are faced with many opportunities – and challenges. These include improving the health of all our people, advancing...

It’s less than 200 years since people first stepped foot onto Antarctica. Explore this timeline to see some key dates in the early discoveries of this...

Wayfinding is about all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place. Traditionally, wayfinding referred...

Wayfinder navigators always look for signs of weather at sunrise and sunset. This is when they try to predict the weather for the next 12 hours....

When clouds hide the celestial signs, navigators use ocean swells, as well as the wind and waves, to determine their direction. Mau Piailug – grandmaster navigator...

Knowledge about the apparent movement of the Sun, Moon and planets across the celestial sphere is important for wayfinding. You can estimate position and direction by...

Navigator Jack Thatcher commanded the two waka hourua that sailed from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Rapanui (Easter Island) and back. Te Aurere and its supporting vessel...