Winter rainfall trends, 1960–2016

Winter rainfall trends for 30 representative sites from 1960–2016.
Rain is vital for life – it supplies the water we need to drink and to grow our food, keeps our ecosystems healthy, and supplies our electricity. New Zealand’s mountainous terrain and location in the roaring forties mean rainfall varies across the country. Changes in rainfall amount or timing can significantly affect agriculture, energy, recreation, and the environment. For example, an increase or decrease of rainfall in spring can have marked effects on crops or fish populations.
Trend direction was assessed using the Theil-Sen estimator and the Two One-Sided Test (TOST) for equivalence at the 95% confidence level.
More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.