Wellingtonians out and about on one of the half dozen good weather days the capital saw over summer. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
After a miserable start to the year - including the worst summer weather in a decade - average temperatures for the rest of the season might have been the best Wellingtonians could hope for.
Locals who spoke to RNZ decided to take what they could get.
While fluctuating between the months, the capital fit into the country's "pretty mild" summer - hitting six days of 25 degrees or above.
Less than a week of objectively hot summer weather is Wellington's average, according to MetService.
Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said looking at the whole three month summer period, the region's temperatures shaped up to be "pretty average".
But breaking down the data by month, there were notable swings, and a tale of two summers did emerge.
"Everyone will remember those weeks from Boxing Day through the first couple of weeks of the New Year, it was pretty bleak and those southerly winds were relentess."
She said the result of those low temperatures, was that Wellingtonians experienced one of the colder Januarys it has had since 2005.
Niwa climate scientist Gregor Macara, who was in the capital at the time, said while fluctuations were normal day-to-day, the run of southerly storms was notable for its duration.
"What was a little unusual, was just how long it remained really cool... and it was kind of depressing, right?
"Our daily highs were hitting 17 degrees, you're like: 'come on, it's meant to be 20, 21, 22 degrees - what's going on here?'."
But Makgabutlane said come February, things completely flipped and the warm temperatures and sunny skies of late were reflected in the statistics.
"If we look at the average daily maximum temperature throughout February and average all of those out. This February was one of the warmer Februarys we've had, again since 2005."
Context for Wellingtonians meant looking at what everyone understood to be "quite a pleasant, quite a warm day" - one that was at least 25 degrees.
"If we look across the summer, we've had about six days where the temperature was 25 degrees or more", which over the past two decades was a fairly average number, she said.
A notable exception was in 2017, where the capital city had a whopping 25 hot days, which was far from normal, Makgabutlane said.
"All in all, temperature-wise the summer we've just had was fairly average for Wellington, apart from those couple of weeks of much cooler than average temperatures."
So, how did the city's residents feel about it?
In spite of some woeful weather days, university students Elsie Butcher and Alice Quigley staunchly indulged in 'summery activities'.
"I'll still eat icecream on a cold day or on a day that's overcast, but it's a bit disappointing. And we still do trips to the beach, just sit in our cars."
Oh the whole, they did not have much to complain about, spending some "pretty good days" at Whanganui's beach and lake, before moving to Wellington for the start of the first semester.
Quigley said the capital could be unpredictable, but had been enjoying the summery weather over the past couple of weeks.
Another Wellington pair who spoke to RNZ said after starting off "crap" they were relieved the summer had improved.
"It's got a little better, but it wasn't looking promising at the start.
"I just carry on. I do a lot of outdoors stuff like tramping and hunting ... the weather didn't play too much of a factor in it - I'd just go and do it anyway."
Niwa's latest seasonal outlook predicted a warmer and dryer than normal autumn for the central and lower North Island, with temperatures likely to be slightly above average.
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