A year of Wairarapa weather extremes

A year of extremes may be the best phrase to sum up Wairarapa's wild weather in 2008.
Statistics archived by Niwa show weather in the region was warmer, windier and wetter much wetter than in 2007.
The average temperature for the year was 12.9C just above 2007's average of 12.6C and the average wind-speed was 11.2km/h, compared with 10.9km/h in 2007.
The biggest change in the weather from 2007 was easily rainfall last year's overall fall of 987.5mm eclipsed 2007's catch of 572.6mm.
The wettest month of 2008 was August, with an average fall of 181.6mm and 23 "rain days", while the driest was January, with 13.4mm and 13 rain days.
Yet that month could not compete with May in 2007 for dry weather, which had an average rainfall of just 8.2mm and only five rain days.
The highest temperature of 2008 was a scorching 32.6C, recorded on January 22, in a month that was the warmest of the year and had an average daytime temperature of 25.9.
At the other end of the thermometer, the lowest temperature was 3.7C, taken on June 20.
June also proved the coolest month of the year, with a daytime average temperature of 7.8C and 2.1C overnight.
The figures were all more extreme than those of 2007, which had temperatures as high as 29.4C, on February 20, and as low as 3.6C, reached on June 10, 20 and September 7.
The windiest month of 2008 was July, with an average speed of 12.7km/h, but failed to match October 2007, which had an average of 17.8km/h.