Wellington
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[1] and about twice that in its metropolitan area.
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
| Coordinates: 41°17′20″S 174°46′38″E / 41.28889°S 174.77722°ECoordinates: 41°17′20″S 174°46′38″E / 41.28889°S 174.77722°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Population (2018) | |
| • Total | 202,737[1] |
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.[2]
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),[3] 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.[4][5]
| 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) |
26.8 (80.2) |
29.6 (85.3) |
30.6 (87.1) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 21.1 (70) |
21.1 (70) |
19.7 (67.5) |
17.3 (63.1) |
15.0 (59) |
13.0 (55.4) |
12.2 (54) |
12.8 (55) |
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) |
16.6 (61.9) |
14.4 (57.9) |
12.3 (54.1) |
10.3 (50.5) |
9.4 (48.9) |
10.0 (50) |
11.4 (52.5) |
12.8 (55) |
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) |
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) |
-0.2 (31.6) |
-1.0 (30.2) |
1.2 (34.2) |
2.1 (35.8) |
3.8 (38.8) |
-1.1 (30) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 63.9 (2.516) |
54.5 (2.146) |
71.4 (2.811) |
79.1 (3.114) |
92.7 (3.65) |
108.2 (4.26) |
111.4 (4.386) |
102.6 (4.039) |
81.0 (3.189) |
87.0 (3.425) |
70.9 (2.791) |
71.1 (2.799) |
993.8 (39.126) |
| % Humidity | 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 |
| Avg. 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 |
| 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[6] | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: (sunshine only) Met Office[7] | |||||||||||||
Wellington Media
"The Old Shebang" on Cuba Street, c. 1883
The Old High Court, since restored as the Supreme Court of New Zealand
Thorndon, the centre of government in Wellington, c. 1929. The original Government House (now the site of the Beehive), Parliament Buildings and Turnbull House are in the background.
Old Government Buildings, Lambton Quay, the second-largest wooden building in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere
Satellite view of the Wellington area
Wellington City from Mount Victoria
Wellingtonians gathered for the Anzac Day dawn service (2011)
Old St Paul's was the Anglican pro-cathedral, and is one of the oldest structures in Wellington.
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Place Summaries | Wellington City | Stats NZ". 2018 New Zealand Census. Stats NZ.
- ↑ "Whanganui-a-Tara, Te - Te Aka Māori Dictionary". Whanganui-a-Tara, Te - Te Aka Māori Dictionary. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ↑ How windy is Wellington, really? by Stuff.co.nz. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ↑ "Snow spotted in central Wellington". The Dominion Post. 25 July 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5333010/Snow-surge-forecast-for-lower-North-Island. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
- ↑ "Snow falls in downtown Wellington". The Dominion Post. 15 August 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5442969/Snow-falls-in-downtown-Wellington. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ↑ "CliFlo - National Climate Database". NIWA. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
- ↑ "Wellington weather". Met Office.
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