City only centre not wetter than usual

It will not come as any surprise to Dunedin residents that the city was the coolest of New Zealand's six main centres in January.

But they may be surprised to learn Dunedin was the only centre not to have a wetter month than normal.

The National Institute of Atmospheric Research (Niwa) January climate summary shows Tauranga was the wettest and sunniest, Christchurch the driest and Auckland the warmest.

Dunedin's mean temperature of 14.9degC, while near average for the city (0.3degC below normal), was 2.5degC colder than Christchurch and 5.8degC behind Auckland.

Its rainfall, at 91% of normal at 65mm, was above Christchurch's 58mm, but that was 136% of normal for the Garden City.

Prevailing easterly winds created cloudy conditions over much of the country, with Dunedin receiving only 80% of its normal sunshine with 143 hours.

Wellington and Auckland also had below normal sunshine hours of 211 hours (86%) and 206 hours (90%) respectively.

While a series of tropical lows brought torrential rain and gales to the upper North Island, turning around the regions' significant moisture deficits (more than 110mm of deficit), it remains dry in Central Otago.

The month's rainfall totals in other parts of Otago were more than 120% above normal.

Otherwise, the region's weather for January failed to break any records.

January weather

National average temperature: 17.4degC - 0.3degC above the January average.

Highest temperature: Timaru, 35.8degC on the 16th.

Lowest temperature: 0.1degC in Masterton on the 4th.

Highest one-day rainfall: 276mm in the Firth of Thames on the 28th.

Highest wind gust: 165kmh at Cape Turnagain on the 16th

Source: Niwa

 

 

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