Weather hazards

HIRDS is a simple online tool that can estimate the magnitude and frequency of high intensity rainfall at any point in New Zealand.

Following extreme weather events in 2023, NIWA reprioritised research to help affected communities recover and prepare for the future.

Decisions about how we adapt to sea-level rise need to be based on information about our exposure to coastal flooding.

NIWA is developing a national river flow forecasting tool for New Zealand that aims to support and strengthen our planning for and response to extreme rainfall events.

The My Coastal Futures game was developed to help people understand climate change impacts and start thinking about how they might adapt.

NIWA and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are working together to develop a new drought forecasting tool.

RiskScape is a software application for analysing natural hazard consequences.

This five-year NIWA-led research programme is developing a system to map flood hazard consistently across the whole country. It will reveal how our flood risk might change over the next 100 years because of changes to rainfall and sea level from climate change, as well as due to land-use changes.

NIWA’s research into forecasting weather systems aims to increase the resilience of New Zealand communities to weather-related hazards.

NIWA is using machine learning to forecast flood inundation in a fraction of the time required to run physical models. 

Researchers created national sea-level risk profiles for populations, buildings, croplands & infrastructure under present & future climate scenarios.

Floods are New Zealand’s most frequent and costly natural disaster. Fast and accurate forecasting of flood impacts is crucial for reducing the risk to life, property, and infrastructure.