MetService March 2020 Summary - Drought areas extended
It was another drier than usual month for most of the country, with Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Nelson recording under half of normal March rainfall. Most other areas saw more rain than seen in January and February combined, but March totals were still only 50-70% of normal. On 12 March, the 2020 drought was classified as a large-scale adverse event, covering the entire North Island, Marlborough, Tasman, Kaikoura, North Canterbury and the Chatham Islands.
Right at the end of the month, a decent burst of rain brought relief to the Kaikoura Coast, Wellington City, Wairarapa and Gisborne, with many gauges clocking up 80-140mm (e.g. above normal totals). While Hawkes Bay also saw useful rain, totals were patchy and typically less than 40mm.
March ran much cooler than usual for eastern and southern regions of the South Island, while monthly temperatures elsewhere were near average.
Some very preliminary March 2020 figures for the main centres:
Code: Select all
Mar 2020 Average Temps, Rainfall, Sunshine and departures from 1981-2010 normals ℅ NIWA
Site T-max °C T-min °C T-mean °C Rain mm Sun hrs
Auckland, Mangere 22.9 +0.5 14.2 -0.4 18.5 0.0 27 32% 210 110%
Auckland Aero 23.3 +0.7 14.6 -0.3 19.0 +0.2 40 54%
Tauranga Aero 23.0 +0.5 13.1 -0.7 18.1 -0.1 41 42% n/a n/a
Hamilton Aero 23.8 +0.9 10.1 -0.9 17.0 +0.1 74 88%
Hamilton, Ruakura 24.6 +1.9 10.2 -1.2 17.4 +0.3 64 80% 198 102%
Wellington, Kelburn 18.8 -0.3 12.1 -0.5 15.4 -0.4 121 142% 192 93%
Christchurch Aero 19.4 -0.9 8.5 -1.1 14.0 -0.9 58 128% 157 82%
Dunedin, Musselburgh 16.5 -0.8 9.6 -0.6 13.0 -0.7 44 68% 179 124%
Greymouth Aero 19.3 +0.4 10.6 -0.4 15.0 +0.1 151 85% 201 125%
