A new climate report has revealed just how extreme last month was in the weather books - not that the rain-soaked residents of Wanganui, Manawatu and Dunedin, or the owners of frozen South Island farms, needed any reminding.
A report card issued yesterday by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research described June as unsettled, with storms in different parts of the country. As well as devastating floods which forced a state of emergency to be declared, temperature gauges in parts of the South Island recorded three of the lowest temperatures to be experienced in New Zealand.
Rainfall was more than double the June normal in Wanganui, Palmerston North and Central Otago, while Dunedin was drenched in more than three times its normal total for the month.
A one-in-85-year flood in the North Island from Taranaki to Horowhenua, which caused widespread damage, contributed to Wanganui's fourth-highest June rainfall total on record - 237ml was recorded during the month at the city's airport - and Palmerston North's highest. More than 150 per cent of the usual amount of rain fell on parts of Taranaki, Mt Ruapehu, Horowhenua, Hokitika, Timaru, Oamaru and Gore.
In contrast, it was a very dry month for eastern and northern areas of the North Island, as well as coastal northern Canterbury. Some areas in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and Hawke's Bay received less than half the normal June rainfall. Soils were notably drier than normal for East Cape, around Napier, coastal Wairarapa, southern Marlborough and eastern parts of Canterbury north of Christchurch. The month was also notable for the big freeze that hit parts of the South Island.