Use of advanced modelling methods to predict dothistroma needle blight on Pinus radiata at a fine resolution within New Zealand

•Dothistroma needle blight is a damaging disease of many Pinaceae and radiata pine.•Disease severity for radiata pine was predicted throughout New Zealand.•Severity predictions from random forest, XGBoost were more precise than regression.•Disease severity was strongly affected by relative humidity and solar radiation.•Dothistroma needle blight disease severity maps were developed for New Zealand.