As at the end of this week, the rainfall total stood at just over 2100mm — several hundred millimetres more than anything ever recorded at either the harbour or the airport.
The harbour’s record-keepers noted a rain total of 1634mm in 1879 and the airport recorded 1432.3mm in 1938.
Even with March 1988’s devastating Cyclone Bola, Gisborne totalled only 1126mm that year although hill country locations had over 900mm in the few days during Bola.
Maybe it was a sign of things to come but this year arrived after the fifth wettest year since official records started at the airport in 1937.
Last year, 10 out of the 12 months were wetter than the 30-year average and the year ended with a total of almost 1357mm.
It might have been a warning sign but three out of the four months at the end of 2022 were wetter than usual, starting with a September that totalled over 212mm.
This year, the first three months were completely out of season, delivering a staggering 850mm — cyclones Hale and Gabrielle being among the “events”.
June followed up with another deluge of almost 370mm.
September, October and last month were all wet, totalling more than 500mm.
Throughout the year, soils have been unable to drain and the ground moisture levels have remained at saturation for much of the time.
What stands out when studying the district council rain records for the past five years is just how many rain events there have been in the past two years alone.
Since November 2021, counting any month with over 150mm as a rain event, there have been eight rain event months as measured by MetService at Gisborne Airport.
The count is much higher at Tolaga Bay.
Measured by a council gauge on the Hikuwai River and counting rainfall over 180mm as an “event”, there have been 15 such events since June 2020.
Ten of those events have happened since November 2021.
Some colossal rainfalls have been recorded in the steep hill country of the East Cape, with monthly totals reaching the 700-800mm mark.
It is not surprising then that some rain records have been broken.
In Gisborne, February’s 450mm set a new record as did June’s 369mm.
November missed breaking the 1960 record of 224 by just two millimetres.
Amidst all the wet, August had just 16.5mm of rain to become the driest on record since 1937, beating 1982’s 24mm.
As may be expected, lots of rain means lots of cloud and this year could enter the books as one of the gloomiest years Gisborne has experienced.
By the end of November, Gisborne Airport had measured just over 1800 hours of sun for the year. Normally the city enjoys at least 2000 hours.
In fact, the 30-year average for the 1991-2020 period is just short of 2300 hours of sun in a year, so this year has missed out on over 400 hours of the bright stuff.
The gloomiest Gisborne year on record was 1989, with just over 1926 hours.
Another strange aspect to 2023 is that all the rain and cloud has not made it a cold year.
By the end of November, seven months had recorded above-average temperatures — all of the previous eight, except August.
Scientists have already confirmed 2023 is another warm year for New Zealand and the world, and last month’s figures confirm the trend.
Despite more southerly winds and the third wettest November on record, Gisborne’s mean daily temperature last month was 16.1 degrees — 0.4 of a degree warmer than usual.
Daytime temperatures were slightly down but night temperatures more than compensated — 1.6 six degrees warmer than the November average.
It was definitely a gloomy November — our third gloomiest at over 60 hours short of the norm. We had just 164 hours of the sun’s warming rays compared to the 30-year average of 228.6.
For those looking for signs of summer, even the sea is slow in warming up. The water temperature out in the bay has picked up from 15 degrees in early November, but is still on the chilly side at only 16.6 this week.
That is 1.3 degrees cooler than the average for the time of year.
