Extended Summer In New Zealand

[J07]

The country had a cold, wet January. But this was followed by a warm, dry and sunny February; a warm, dry and sunny March....and a warm, dry and sunny April. Unless you live on the West Coast, in which case it was atrociously wet!

Full April Summary is here: http://www.niwa.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/103600/Climate_summary_April2010_FINAL.pdf

A few interesting facts!

The driest place was Culverden with 5 mm of monthly rain. The wettest was Milford Sound township with...... 1400 mm of rain. These two towns are on the same island!

Another great contrast is between Culverden, with its total monthly rain of 5 mm, and the Cropp River raingauge which is about 150 km west, and managed 1300 mm of rain in one 5 day period!

In terms of temperatures, Waipara in the final few days of the month had an overnight low of 19C. Darfield reached 29C earlier in the month. The lowest temperature was -3C.

A number of locations came out with mean monthly maxima in the low 20s.

Sunny for plenty of places, with almost 230 hours in Gisborne. Good for ripening the last of the grapes.

Back to the rain....another illustration of the great contrast is between Alexandra and Milford Sound. These two towns are a mere 60 miles apart, yet Milford Sound in a typical year receives about 20 times as much rain as Alexandra.

In April this year, both towns had a wet month. But the difference in standards is notable. Alexandras 4th wettest April on record, with a mere 47 mm of rain, whilst Milford Sound had its 2nd wettest April on record with that enormous 1424 mm of rain - 30 times more!