Wellington weather: Capital gets just three hours of sunshine a day

There are reports of surface flooding around Wellington as wet weather batters the capital. Photo / 123RF

Wellington has had a dismal start to summer, with an average of just three hours of sun a day.

MetService meteorologist Peter Little told the Herald that December has been dark and dreary.

"The main thing is sunshine – we've had 43 hours for the month so far – just three hours a day and the average is seven-and-a-half so it really has been quite cloudy."

Since December 3, Wellington has recorded just 19 hours of sunshine.

It's wet too – there have only been four dry days in December so far and Little says the suburb of Kelburn has recorded a whopping 173mm of rain. The usual average for the suburb is 83mm.

"It certainly has been a very wet December."

That rain has wreaked havoc across the region of the past two weeks with flooding recorded in Levin, Feilding, Kāpiti and the Hutt Valley.

Mark Duncan, the Wellington Civil Defence group controller, says due to the heavy rain last week, which caused chaos across the capital, regional council flood control and civil defence are keeping a close eye on rivers.

On Tuesday, Wellington, Kāpiti and Horowhenua were all under a heavy rain watch between the hours of 10am and 2pm.

Palmerston North Airport had its wettest December day in the 24 hours to 9am this morning. It has been a wet month with 161.6mm recorded to date. This amount is fast approaching the wettest December (2001) when 175.4mm of rain fell. Average December rainfall is 73mm. ^PL pic.twitter.com/hxYU8YL1u7

— MetService (@MetService) December 13, 2021

The heavy rain means already swollen rivers could rise further, causing more flooding.

Duncan says nothing has risen to the point of alarm yet – but people should still be very wary.

"Anyone in the region should keep a close eye on things keep well away from streams and rivers and keep an eye on the roads ... to be safe we're asking people to stay away from rivers and streams because they can rise rapidly."