Another warm year for New Zealand in 2020 - but not as sizzling as the global temperature

It was the country's seventh warmest year on record according to Niwa's Annual Climate Summary.

Almost 90 per cent of the globe experienced above average temperatures.

Climate scientist Professor James Renwick says the Southern Hemisphere wasn't as intensely warm compared to the rest of the world.

He says a lot of it came from the Northern Hemisphere near Russia and Siberia.