September an extreme month for weather

By CLAIRE TREVETT and NZPA

If weather watching was a sport, last month would have provided spectators with enough suspense to give the sofa a good workout.

Niwa senior climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said September was a month of extremes, as westerlies and lows swept across New Zealand from the South Tasman Sea, bringing rain, snow and gales.

Rainfall records were broken as the country was saturated, with double the usual rainfall in eastern regions from Gisborne to North Otago.

Gales buffeted Manawatu, Wellington, Kapiti, Wairarapa, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

On September 18, gusts peaked at 176km/h at South West Cape, 169km/h at Castlepoint and 141km/h at Tiwai Point.

Power lines and trees came down, roofs were lifted off, and driving conditions were treacherous in Wellington and the Wairarapa. The rain also caused landslides.

Trucks were blown over in the Wairarapa, and lambs died in cold Canterbury southeasterlies.

In Whangamata, 8-year-old Tyler MacKenzie survived a lightning strike that split his bicycle helmet and gave him burns, damaging his sight and hearing.

The North Island and top of the South Island were warmer than usual but the southwest of the South Island was colder.

Temperatures ranged from minus 5.2C in Ranfurly in Central Otago on September 11 and 12, and Wreys Bush in Southland on September 11, to 26.5C in Napier on Friday.

Gisborne and Hawkes Bay temperatures were 1.5C above average, while South Westland, Central Otago and the Southern Lakes had temperatures an average 1C lower than usual.

Whangarei had less sunshine than usual, but a mean temperature of 14.2C made it the hottest September since records began in 1967.

Most regions had normal sunshine hours. However, Northland, Gisborne and Central Otago had less than 90 per cent of normal hours.

Early in the month there was heavy rain in the central North Island and Golden Bay, and the month ended with high rainfall over the whole of the North Island.

Many eastern regions, from Gisborne to North Otago, and Taranaki, King Country and Wanganui received double their average rainfall for the month.

Last weekend, 70mm fell in one day in Taranaki, Tongariro and the Gisborne high country.

Cold southerlies brought substantial snow in Canterbury, resulting in stock losses at the beginning of the lambing season in the high country.

Dunedin was the driest of the four main centres, with Christchurch enjoying the most sunshine. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch had above-average rainfall, Dunedin was near average.

Dr Salinger said Niwa's spring forecast had predicted similar weather patterns, but not to such extremes.