Last month was the wettest July ever recorded in New Zealand, the latest figures from NIWA show.
:quality(70):focal(-5x-5:5x5)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/tvnz/5N3VWZRXPFHL5HHTKIMYPMWPYA.jpg)
In a statement on Wednesday, the research institute said “record-breaking rain, temperatures and wind were all part of the weather story for July 2022 in Aotearoa New Zealand”, with rain being “perhaps the most memorable feature of the month”.
From July 11 to July 31, five separate weather events caused flooding around the country, with many regions impacted.
And for Christchurch, July 2022 was the wettest month of any month on record, with the Garden City recording 310mm of rain – roughly half of the amount that Christchurch typically records over a full year.
Christchurch was one of 20 locations to experience their wettest July on record.
A further 25 locations experienced a near-record for the month of July.
READ MORE: $200m insurance paid out for weather damages in past year
It was also the fourth-warmest July on record for New Zealand, with nationwide temperatures 1.3 degrees above average.
In a release, NIWA stated “there was a multitude of drivers behind the wet and warm weather during July”.
“The overall air pressure pattern saw higher than usual pressures to the northeast and southwest of the country and was associated with more northerly quarter air flows (warm and wet airmass origin).
“This pattern was quite different from the southerly and south-westerly systems which are more characteristic of NZ winters.”
READ MORE: NZ’s first climate change adaptation plan released
The month’s highest temperature was 22.6 degrees, at Bromley on July 14, with the lowest temperature of -11.6 degrees recorded at Aoraki Mount Cook Airport on July 17.
The highest one-day rainfall was 371mm, at Aoraki Mount Cook village on July 18.
“Of the six main centres in July 2022, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch was the wettest, Hamilton was the driest, Tauranga was the sunniest and Dunedin was the coldest and least sunny.”
NIWA’s statement comes after the Government announced a new plan on Wednesday to deal with climate change’s impacts over the next six years.
Discussion about this post