Tauranga was the warmest and sunniest centre in the country last month, according to NIWA's Climate Summary report.

NIWA's research findings for the month of May show Tauranga recorded above average temperatures of 14.2 degrees – 0.9 degrees above the mean average for May.

Tauranga was the warmest and sunniest centre in May despite it ending in a cold snap.

The above average month ended in a cold snap that brought snow to parts of the South and North Island.

'Low temperatures were experienced throughout the country on May 28, with many locations recording their lowest May afternoon temperatures on record,” says the report.

The nation-wide average temperature in May 2013 was 11.1 degrees (0.4 degrees above the 1971-2010 May average, using NIWA's seven-station temperature series which begins in 1909).

Mean temperatures for May were 0.5 to 1.2 degrees above average across most of the central and eastern North Island.

'In May, Auckland was the wettest, Tauranga was the warmest and sunniest, Christchurch was the driest and coolest and Dunedin was the cloudiest of the six main centres.”

According to NIWA's report, Tauranga experience 173 hours of sunshine, 105 per cent of the normal amount normally seen in May.

Tauranga experienced all the extremes with 119mm of rain falling last month, or 108 per cent of the normal range.

'Rainfall was above normal (120-150 per cent of May normal) in parts of Northland, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Kapiti Coast, Wellington, and Southland,” says the report.

'In contrast, May rainfall was around 50 per cent of normal in the Buller district. May rainfall was below normal (50-79 per cent of May normal) for parts of Hawke's Bay and inland Canterbury.”