"I'm kicking myself," he said.
But WeatherWatch wasn't alone in not forseeing just how dry the summer would be.
Ms Sosnoski was accurate in saying December would be a "dry, enjoyable time", but fell away by saying that Mars would be in Aquarius in January, which would bring more thunder and lightning than usual. She was also misguided about February, predicting it could be "extra wet".
The most accurate of the trio was Niwa's expert climatologist. Mrs Griffiths predicted a "normal to dry summer" for the north and east - with Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Bay of Plenty, Taupo, Waikato, Northland and Auckland all looking for "that dryish summer flavour".
"Aucklanders will be starting to conserve water in another month or two if it continues to be dry," she said.
Her only black mark was in saying Wellington through to Taranaki would have closer to normal rainfall for the summer period.
"I think we gave quite a good heads-up this year," she said yesterday.
Mr Duncan said it was impossible to accurately predict how an entire summer will unfold.