Stuff
The first two months of summer have been historically wet for those in the north of the country.
It’s official, this summer sucks.
Historically heavy rains flooded Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and much of the east coast of the North Island in January as first Cyclone Hale then an “atmospheric river” bore down on the top of the country.
And there’s still no relief in sight, with the forecast predicting Aucklanders could be in the line of another cyclone forming in the tropics that’s predicted to hit early next week. Other parts of New Zealand will not escape the rain either.
Stuff has analysed weather station data from the first two months of summer over the past 20 years, comparing rainfall and wet days recorded by MetService and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).
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It shows it’s been one of the wettest summers since the turn of the century for those in the north and east of the North Island.
Auckland just about doubled its previous highest rainfall total (273.4mm set in 2002) over the first two months of summer, recording 534.6mm of rain.
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On January 30, there were dozens of times during that afternoon and early evening when two-minute rainfall exceeded the 30-year daily average for January.
According to MetService, between the start of December and late January, Whangārei recorded 654mm of rain – more than 200mm more than the previous high of 457.4mm recorded at the same weather station in 1938.
Holiday hotspot Tauranga tripled its average rainfall of 172mm during those two months with 538.4mm over the same period.
Meanwhile, Whitianga has a claim for the Atlantis of New Zealand, clocking up nearly three quarters of a metre of rain (732.8mm). That’s nearly twice the previous high-water mark of 398mm in 2011.
Whitianga and Tauranga share the dubious top spot of having the most wet days, with 32 of 62 days recording at least 1mm of rain in a day. In comparison, in summer 2019-20, there were just two days of rain in Whitianga.
But the further south you go, the better the news has been for warm (and dry) weather.
Canterbury has clocked the hottest day so far this summer when the mercury hit 34.4C in late December.
And nearly every rain gauge Stuff looked at on the South Island was down on annual averages.
Invercargill has had less than a third of the rain it usually sees over January and February, racking up just 49mm of its 188mm average.
That’s the driest start to summer Invercargill has seen since records began in 1900.
KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
South Islanders have been enjoying a far better summer than those in the north, with Christchurch recording the hottest day of summer so far.
Likewise, Milford Sound recorded only 20 days of rain, its driest start to summer in over six decades.
Meanwhile, the weather station at Tiwai Point just outside Bluff only recorded 1mm of rain through the first 25 days of January.
At the heart of the terrible summer for the North Island are cooler-than-usual climate conditions caused by La Niña, which also brings a stronger easterly trade wind, said MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris.
Prior to Auckland’s Anniversary weekend floods, Ferris said while La Niña wasn’t the sole cause of the rain, it did make wet weather more likely for those in the north as it brought in more low-pressure systems from the tropics.
And, he said, the forecast for February was a “pretty similar situation”, so heading south might be the best bet for anyone wanting a taste of Kiwi summer.
