Rotorua set for slightly warmer start to spring

Lake Tarawera. Drone photograph by Stephen Parker.

Rotorua is set for a slightly warmer and drier start to spring after a relatively mild winter, weather experts say.

MetService communication meteorologist Lisa Murray said temperature projections for September were looking to be slightly above average.

"It will only be by a couple of degrees so it will feel warmer, but by no means are we saying it will feel like summer.

"There are some cold days coming up which is pretty normal for this time of year.

"I think it would be fair to say locals can expect slightly warmer and drier days for the start of spring."

Looking back at the three months from June to August, Ms Murray said it appeared Rotorua had a mild winter.

"June was really warm, July was kind of mixed then in August the first two weeks were particularly cold - people were saying 'winter has finally arrived' but then in the second two weeks it went back to normal.

"August had a slightly below average rainfall but the mean temperature was pretty on par with previous years.

"There were some significant events, such as the 29mm of rain on August 25 but there were plenty of days with no rainfall so it has all averaged out."

Rotorua resident weatherman Brian Holden shared his August wrap of the city's weather observations.

According to his figures, collated at his Springfield weather base, Rotorua's total rainfall was 117.6mm and the mean temperature was 8.6C. The average rainfall for August is 163mm and the average temperature was 9C.

August 25 had the most rainfall with 29.5mm and gales were recorded on August 27 and 28. Mr Holden recorded eight frosts for the month.

The coldest morning was on August 8 with a minimum temperature of -2.7C. The warmest day was August 30 with 18.2C.

Looking ahead:
Saturday: Morning showers clearing to fine spells. Southwest change. High 16C, low 7C.
Sunday: Cloud increasing. Rain at night. Northwest develops. High 16C, low 10C.
Monday: Rain eases to showers early, clearing later. Southwest. High 15C, low 6C.
Tuesday: Fine, morning and evening cloud. Southwest dying out. High 16C, low 5C.
Wednesday: Fine. Southwesterlies. High 16C, low 2C.
Thursday: Fine. Not much wind. High 14, low 2C.
Friday: Fine with not much wind. High 14C, low 2C.