Climate Summary, Spring 09: Extremely Dry South Is

National Climate Centre
Tuesday 8 December 2009

National Climate Summary – Spring 2009: Extremely dry for much of the South Island

• Rainfall: Below normal rainfall over much of the South Island, especially Otago and the Lakes District, as well as eastern parts of Northland, Auckland and Coromandel. Very wet in southern Hawkes Bay and the Tararua District. Near normal spring rainfall elsewhere.
• Temperature: Near average temperatures in Northland, Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty and the Lakes District; a cooler than usual spring in most other regions.
• Sunshine: Sunny over much of the South Island, as well as for Waikato, Taupo, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay. Very cloudy in the west from Taranaki to Wellington.

It was a very dry spring (with rainfalls below 75 percent of normal) in eastern parts of Northland, Auckland and Coromandel, and for much of the South Island. Record or near-record low spring rainfalls were observed in Northland, Coromandel, Westland, along the South Island Main Divide, in the Lakes District, and Otago, with totals often less than 50 percent of spring normal. In contrast, spring rainfall was above normal in southern Hawkes Bay, the Tararua District, and in Wanganui (with more than 120 percent of normal recorded). Elsewhere, near normal spring rainfall was observed.

Spring temperatures were near average (between -0.5°C and 0.5°C of average) along the eastern coasts of Northland, Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty, as well as throughout the South Island Lakes District and in Fiordland. Below average temperatures (between 1.2°C and 0.5°C below the seasonal average) were observed in most other regions of the country. However, there were several small pockets of well below average temperatures observed, particularly along the southeast coasts of both Islands (with temperatures more than 1.2°C below the spring average). Overall, the New Zealand national average temperature for spring was 11.6°C (0.4°C below the long-term seasonal average).

Spring sunshine totals were above normal (more than 110 percent of normal) over much of the South Island, as well as throughout the Waikato, Taupo, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions. In contrast, it was quite cloudy in the west of the North Island, from Taranaki through to Wellington, with sunshine totals less than 90 percent of normal.

Spring 2009 was characterised by stronger than normal southwest winds over New Zealand, caused by lower pressures to the southeast of the South Island consistent with El Niño.

Further Highlights:
• The highest spring temperature was 32.1°C recorded at Whakatane on November 24th (an all-time record at this site). The lowest spring temperature of -7.2°C was recorded at Hanmer Forest on September 4th (not a record).
• The highest 1-day spring rainfall was 122.3 mm, recorded at Milford Sound, on November 14th (not a record).
• The highest spring wind gust was 184 km/hr, recorded at Stewart Island on November 4th (a November record at this site).
• Of the six main centres this spring, Tauranga was the warmest, Wellington the wettest, Dunedin the driest and Christchurch the sunniest and coolest.

Read The Full Summary Here (doc)

ENDS

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