A cool September in store

MetService News Release
Wednesday, 02 Sep 2015

A cool September in store

"A cooler than usual September is expected for all regions of the country," said MetService Meteorologist Georgina Griffiths. Since the middle of winter, New Zealand has generally been running colder than normal, due to a higher frequency of southwesterlies and cooler than usual seas around our coastline. "This is standard El Nino for us," stated Griffiths.

"After an extremely wet winter for the west and south of the South Island,and between Taranaki and the Kapiti Coast, many people are keen to know how the start of spring might unfold," she said.

It was the wettest winter on record for Hokitika Airport, with 1092mm of rain observed, about 150% of winter normal. Record-breaking winter rainfall was also experienced at Palmerston North (413mm, the wettest winter since records began in 1943) and Wanganui (396mm, 4th wettest winter in observations since 1890).

"After a stormy start to September, we should then see a progressive shift towards more highs over the country," said Griffiths. "The first week of the month should produce significant rain for all regions of the country, including useful rain into the relatively dry eastern areas. But for the remainder of the month, normal to below normal rainfall is predicted for all areas," she added.

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

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