Mundane March a little sunnier

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

After two months of devastating weather to start the year, the first quarter has ended with a fairly mundane March.

The one redeeming feature of March was that at last the rain taps were turned off.

The month totalled about 45 millimetres, which is half the 30-year mean of 92.9mm for the 2019-2020 period.

Even so, the first quarter of the year has totalled around 747mm from the deluges of January and February.

The first quarter has had three times the average amount of rain for that period.

The total of 747mm is around 75 percent of the average of just under 1000 millimetres for a full year’s rainfall.

It was a little sunnier than average over March — around 235 hours against the 2019-2020 average of 193 hours.

Temperature-wise, the mean for the month and the averages for minimum and maximum temperatures almost exactly matched the 30-year mean.

March’s mean daily temperature was 17.5 degrees, the mean daily maximum was around 22.7 and mean daily minimum about 12.4.

Throughout the month, the wind came equally from the north and the south, with northwesters and southeasters predominating, with those wind quarters registering eight days each.

New Zealand and world weather and climate agencies have noted the end of La Nina conditions and are now waiting to see whether an El Nino system develops after a neutral period.