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The total rainfall in Warkworth for 2019 was 1076.5mm – nearly 400mm below the 20-year average of 1461mm.
It was the second driest year since 2000, eclipsed only by 2015, which saw 1020mm.
The wettest day in Warkworth for the year was April 1 (55mm), closely followed by October 15 (53mm). In comparison, the wettest day in 2018 was June 20 (85mm).
The month of September saw the most rain in Warkworth (162mm).
Algies Bay saw the least rainfall collected over the whole year (825mm) while Kaipara Flats saw the most (1179mm).
The highest monthly rainfall figure reported by Mahurangi Matters was 178mm in April in Sandspit.
Mahurangi Matters would like to thank its dedicated team of meteorology enthusiasts, from Kaipara Flats to Topuni, who provide their readings each month and enable the rainfall report. Special thanks to Warkworth’s Roger Williams, who has been collecting data since 2000.
The 2019 NIWA climate report, released last week, confirmed what water tank owners already knew – it was the driest January to June on record for Auckland at 62 per cent of normal (321.2mm), and for Whangarei at 44 per cent of normal (277.8mm).
“A central Pacific El Niño event, which persisted through to July, brought frequent bouts of high pressure with widespread sunny and dry weather to start the year,” the report says.
“A key climate driver and contributor to New Zealand’s hot start to 2019 was the presence of above average sea temperatures around our coastlines.”
It has now been 35 months since New Zealand has had a month with below average temperatures.
Five of the past seven years have been among New Zealand’s hottest on record.
“This trend is consistent with the overall pattern of global warming,” the report says.
Nationally, 2019 was the fourth warmest year on record according to NIWA’s records, which began in 1909.
The nationwide average temperature for 2019 was 13.37C, which was 0.76C above the 1981–2010 annual average
Whangārei recorded the highest annual average temperature for 2019 (16.5C), followed by Whangaparaoa (16.4C).
