January's Weather: Summer III
Along with most places in Central New Zealand, January 2026 in Kāpiti was its third summer month ⎯ the first half of which was sunny and dry, while the second, particularly the third week, had more cloud and produced most of the month’s rain. However, along with the lower west coast of the Motu, it again avoided the extreme rain storms of north-eastern regions
Temperatures: Our daily average maximum temperature was 21.9℃, over a degree cooler than average, being the lowest in over 10 years, but only three points below the also cooler January 2025. However, we were again the warmest place in central NZ with an overall mean temperature of 17.4℃, despite some eastern areas with maximums frequently a couple degrees higher than ours.
Maximums of over 20 degrees in Kāpiti occurred on 27 days.
Sunshine: The equivalent of 18 fine days was average for January, with the sunny first half of the month and last week, supporting the third cloudy/wet one.
Rainfall: Rainfall of around 95mm, was almost double the historic average for January and the highest for nine years, however, almost 70 percent of this fell in just over 12 hours as one event at the beginning of the third week. Despite this the rain was not sufficient to prevent dry conditions prevailing for most of the month.
February’s Outlook: Records show Kāpiti’s weather for February is virtually the same as January’s with an average temperature of 23℃ and 18 sunny days, so February this year might have a bit of catching-up.
Photo: Cloud over the eastern hills was common in week three.
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Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Poll: Are you still heading to your local for your caffeine fix, or has the $$ changed your habits? ☕
Wellington’s identity is built on its cafe culture, but with costs climbing, that culture is under pressure. We’ve seen the headlines about recent closures, and it’s a tough pill to swallow along with a $6+ coffee.
We all want our favourite spots to stay open, but we also have to balance our own budgets ⚖️
We want to know: How are you handling the "coffee math" in 2026? Are you still heading to your local for a chat and a caffeine fix, or has the cost of living changed your habits?
Keen to read more about "coffee math"? The Post has you covered.
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40.5% I avoid spending money on coffee
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48.3% I still indulge at my local cafe
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11.2% Irrelevant - coffee is not for me
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