Warm July for Rotorua

It was a mild month in July, with the exception of the final day which saw snow dumped on Mt Tarawera. This photo was taken by Lake Okareka resident Kyle Shaw.

Rotorua's resident weatherman believes the city has had its warmest July in 16 years with just seven frosts and a mean maximum temperature of 15C.

Brian Holden compiled a summary of the weather trends for last month, recorded at his Springfield base.

He said July had been a "miserable wet month with continuous squalls for most of the latter part".

But it had been the warmest July since 2000 according to his records, he said.

"The normal temperature for Rotorua for July is 7.9C."

The city had 157mm of rainfall last month which Mr Holden classified "normal".

The warmest day was July 23 which had a high of 16C while the day with the lowest minimum temperature (-3C) was July 4.

July 13 saw the most rainfall with 21mm, closely followed by the 23rd with 20.9mm of rain.

There were seven frosts for the whole month, on July 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, then again on the 19th and 22nd.

But the mild month finished with a bang with Mt Tarawera sporting a clear blanket of snow on the last day of July on Sunday.

MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said while he did not think July stood out as an exceptional month, it was slightly warmer than average according to their figures.

MetService records temperatures at the Rotorua Airport.

"It was about 0.1C warmer than the mean."

He said while July had been warmer across the country, August was going to get colder, quickly.

"There is a significant snowfall on its way this weekend so locals should not be surprised if there is another dumping of snow on Mt Tarawera.

"It has been a slow start to winter but it is starting to make itself known and people will see a change in this next month."

The week ahead:
Today: Chance early shower, otherwise fine. Southwest dying out. High 13C, low 2C
Tomorrow: Cloudy periods, chance shower. Northwesterlies. High 13, low 8C
Thursday: A period of rain. Northwesterlies easing. High 14, low 6C
Friday: Occasional rain, clearing. Easterlies developing. High 13C, low 4C
Saturday: Showers. Southeasterlies. High 10C, low 2C
Sunday: Showers. Southerlies. High 10C, low 2C
- Metservice