There is a huge link between the name of a Scottish rock band and Queenstown’s weather this month.
The band is called Wet Wet Wet and, lo and behold, this month has been the wettest September on record.
Locally-based climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger — 2024’s Kiwibank New Zealander of the year — said Queenstown’s rainfall had been about three times the average for September, and as of Tuesday it had rained on 19 of the first 24 days this month.
There had been 198mm in central Queenstown, 186mm at the airport and 202mm on Kelvin Peninsula.
The rain had been caused by "just persistent westerlies and west-northwesterlies, and that’s the direction that brings the most rain/snow into the Queenstown area".
Ironically, the wet spell came after a dry winter with hardly any rain for three weeks running in July.
Dr Salinger said "we’re shifting to La Nina, and with La Ninas we actually get wet Septembers, and into October, which is exactly what we’re having, and then the north-easterlies come in and then it goes warm and dry".
There might still be a bit more rain before the end of this month, he suggested, but fortunately Lake Wakatipu had remained below even pre-flood warning levels.
Meanwhile, a year ago saw another September record for the most rain — 87mm — over a 24-hour period, which added to timber slash on Ben Lomond and resulted in huge debris slips that affected Queenstown Cemetery and Reavers Lane.
Dr Salinger said Queenstown’s biggest 24-hour rainfall was in January 1994 when 91mm fell, causing flooding.
— Philip Chandler
