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The last decade has been confirmed as the warmest on record for New Zealand.
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research says 2000-2009 was slightly warmer for New Zealand than the 1980s, which was the previous warmest decade.
"This result is caused by a combination of natural variability and a background warming trend," says Dr James Renwick, NIWA Principal Scientist.
NIWA's finding is consistent with a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) statement that the decade from 2000-2009 is likely to be the warmest decade on record for global average temperatures.
The WMO predicted that 2009 would rank in the top 10 warmest years on record globally.
For New Zealand, however, the year 2009 itself was slightly colder than the 1971-2000 average.
December sunny and dry for many
Meanwhile, December sunshine totals were well above normal in the north and east of the North Island and parts of North Canterbury, NIWA's monthly statistics show.
Much of the rest of the country received above normal sunshine.
Less than 50% of normal rainfall was recorded in much of the Far North for December.
There was was also between 50% and 80% of normal rainfall in the central North Island, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, southern Hawkes Bay, Tararua District, Wairarapa, Northern South Island, Canterbury and Otago.
December rainfall was above normal in the south and west of the South Island and coastal Taranaki. Soil moisture levels on December 31 were more than 50mm below normal in the Far North, Central North Island and Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Temperatures were near average (between -0.5°C and 0.5°C from average) for most of the country.
Temperatures between 0.5 and 1.0°C below average were recorded in parts of Hawkes Bay, Kapiti, South Canterbury, West Coast and Southland.
Above average temperatures were recorded in parts of Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Northland.
The national average temperature was 15.3°C, 0.3°C below the long-term December average.
The highest temperature was 32°C recorded at Dunedin Airport on Christmas Day, and that was the second highest December temperature for that site.
The lowest temperature of -3.5 °C was recorded at Lumsden on December3, the lowest December temperature there.
Of the six main centres, Tauranga was the warmest and sunniest, Hamilton the wettest, Christchurch and Dunedin the equal driest, and Dunedin the coolest.
The most significant weather events during the month were during the three days from December 2 to 4 when heavy rain caused localised flooding in parts of Auckland, the North Shore and Waikato and several locations throughout the country recorded extremely low maximum and minimum temperatures.
Also, on December 14, severe hailstorms were observed, with hailstones as large as 3cm in diameter reported, in inland Canterbury from Geraldine to north of Rangiora and a tornado was witnessed near Springfield, 70 km west of Christchurch.
During December, higher than normal pressures over the Tasman Sea and New Zealand, particularly over the North Island, resulted in sunny skies and more frequent southwesterly winds over the country, NIWA says.
It says this pattern is typical of El Nino conditions, and has contributed to the lower than normal rainfall in the north and east and higher than normal rainfall in the west and south of the country.
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