Wellington: Capital of New Zealand; urban area of the cities of , Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, and Porirua
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand.
It has been the capital since 1865. Before then Auckland was the capital. Wellington is the second largest city in New Zealand. In 2018, 202,737 people lived in the city and about twice that in its metropolitan area.
Wellington | |
|---|---|
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Wellington | |
| Coordinates: 41°17′20″S 174°46′38″E / 41.28889°S 174.77722°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Population (2018) | |
| • Total | 202,737 |
Wellington is in the middle of New Zealand, at the south end of the North Island. South of Wellington is Cook Strait, the sea between the North Island and the South Island. The city has a lot of hills and a deep harbour. The middle of the city is busier than most small cities and is easy for people to walk around.
It was named for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Wellington became famous when The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was made there. In Māori, the indigenous language, its name is Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
Climate
The city averages 2,068 hours of sunshine per year. The climate is a temperate marine one, (Köppen: Cfb ) is generally moderate all year round, and rarely sees temperatures above 25 °C (77 °F) or below 4 °C (39 °F). The hottest recorded temperature is 30.6 °C (87.1 °F), while −1.1 °C (30.0 °F) is the coldest. The city is notorious for its southerly blasts in winter, which may make the temperature feel much colder. Having an average windspeed of 29 km/h (18.1 mph), Wellington is generally windy all year round with high rainfall; average annual rainfall is 994 mm (39 in), June and July being the wettest months.
Frosts are quite common in the hill suburbs and the Hutt Valley between May and September. Snow is very rare at low altitudes, although snow fell on the city and many other parts of the Wellington region during separate events in July and August 2011.
| Climate data for Wellington | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 29.4 (84.9) | 30.6 (87.1) | 28.3 (82.9) | 25.2 (77.4) | 22.0 (71.6) | 19.2 (66.6) | 18.8 (65.8) | 18.3 (64.9) | 22.6 (72.7) | 23.9 (75.0) | 26.8 (80.2) | 29.6 (85.3) | 30.6 (87.1) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 21.1 (70.0) | 21.1 (70.0) | 19.7 (67.5) | 17.3 (63.1) | 15.0 (59.0) | 13.0 (55.4) | 12.2 (54.0) | 12.8 (55.0) | 14.3 (57.7) | 15.8 (60.4) | 17.6 (63.7) | 19.6 (67.3) | 16.6 (61.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 17.7 (63.9) | 17.8 (64.0) | 16.6 (61.9) | 14.4 (57.9) | 12.3 (54.1) | 10.3 (50.5) | 9.4 (48.9) | 10.0 (50.0) | 11.4 (52.5) | 12.8 (55.0) | 14.5 (58.1) | 16.4 (61.5) | 13.6 (56.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 14.4 (57.9) | 14.5 (58.1) | 13.5 (56.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 9.5 (49.1) | 7.6 (45.7) | 6.6 (43.9) | 7.2 (45.0) | 8.6 (47.5) | 9.8 (49.6) | 11.3 (52.3) | 13.3 (55.9) | 10.7 (51.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) | 4.5 (40.1) | 4.3 (39.7) | 2.3 (36.1) | 0.6 (33.1) | −0.6 (30.9) | −1.1 (30.0) | −0.2 (31.6) | −1.0 (30.2) | 1.2 (34.2) | 2.1 (35.8) | 3.8 (38.8) | −1.1 (30.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 63.9 (2.52) | 54.5 (2.15) | 71.4 (2.81) | 79.1 (3.11) | 92.7 (3.65) | 108.2 (4.26) | 111.4 (4.39) | 102.6 (4.04) | 81.0 (3.19) | 87.0 (3.43) | 70.9 (2.79) | 71.1 (2.80) | 993.8 (39.13) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 6.5 | 6.3 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 10.0 | 12.4 | 12.1 | 12.4 | 10.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 113.3 |
| Average relative humidity (%) (at 9am) | 75.0 | 76.8 | 77.5 | 78.1 | 80.0 | 81.6 | 81.3 | 80.1 | 76.5 | 75.3 | 73.5 | 74.9 | 77.6 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 248.0 | 197.8 | 217.0 | 150.0 | 124.0 | 90.0 | 93.0 | 124.0 | 180.0 | 186.0 | 210.0 | 248.0 | 2,067.8 |
| Source 1: CliFlo | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: (sunshine only) Met Office | |||||||||||||
References
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