Waikato and Bay of Plenty rainfall smashes records

22 September 2017

Waikato and Bay of Plenty rainfall smashes records

This year has been a challenging one on the weather front, with extreme rainfall amounts recorded across the north and east of the North Island, and along the eastern South Island.

“For many of us, 2017 may well be remembered as the year it didn’t stop raining,” said MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths.

Many locations in the upper North Island, and along the eastern South Island, have already received more than their usual annual quota of rainfall, in only the first nine months of the year. Tauranga, Te Puke, Hamilton, Gisborne, Rotorua, Taupo, Paraparaumu, Christchurch and Ashburton have all received more rain so far in 2017 (in 9 months), than is typically received across an entire year.

“January to September rainfall records have been smashed in the Waikato and greater Bay of Plenty region,” commented Griffiths. “It has also been an extremely wet year-to-date for Auckland.”

The year-to-date rainfall accumulation at Hamilton Airport (1271mm at the time of writing) was the highest January-September tally there in records that began in 1935. Similarly, it was the wettest January-September period at Ruakura (1234mm, records since 1905), Rotorua (1717mm, records began in 1963), and Taupo (1091mm, records since 1976).

It was the second wettest January – September period for Te Puke (2020mm, records since 1958), and the third wettest January -September period at Pukekohe (1271mm, records since 1986). Auckland and Tauranga have also been extremely wet over the same period, both ranking as fourth wettest in observations since 1962 and 1898, respectively.

Looking ahead, the wetter weather is forecast to continue for much of the country next week, with western and northern regions seeing the worst of it. “Lows continue to target New Zealand. It is almost like we’ve got a bulls-eye on our back.” For all those farmers and growers out there, MetService recommend checking in with the October Outlook, and keeping in touch with the rural forecasters on social media.

The latest Rural Outlook can be found at www.metservice.com%2Frural%2Fmonthly-outlook. You can keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings at metservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice and @MetServiceWARN on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com.

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