The rain one day was mainly on the Hawke's Bay plains

The sunny day on Marine Parade on Wednesday was a far cry from the month of November, when there was almost 300mm of rain in Napier - six times the monthly average. Photo / Paul Taylor

Rainfall across Hawke's Bay in November averaged more than double the average for the month, but six times greater in Napier which had one of its biggest-ever floods.

The details are revealed in Hawke's Bay Regional Council's monthly rainfall report, which reveals record rain on the council's roof near the Napier CBD totalled 296.5 millimetres – almost 12 times the 25mm recorded by that gauge in November last year - the start of a drought in which there was below average monthly rainfall for eight months.

If it hadn't been for the 250mm-plus in the Napier flood on November 9, the total for the month would have been about the HBRC Dalton St rooftop gauge's November average of 50mm.

The rain report for last month was released on Tuesday and covers mainly rural and mountain areas on the HBRC metered network, which aims mainly to give early warning of floods from rivers across the region from Waikaremoana to Porangahau.

The heaviest rainfall among the 43 stations summarised was 342.5mm, at Waipoapoa, at the southern extremity of the November 9 weather bomb, during which rainfall at the site totalled 201.5mm.

The lowest was 115mm at Ohiti, on the Heretaunga Plains. It compared with 22mm in the same gauge in November last year.

Regional council principal scientist Dr Kathleen Kozyniak said that while rainfall across the Heretaunga Plains and the south coast averaged more than three times what could have been expected in November, the Ruahine Range got off the lightest, but was "still above normal."

While there has already been some rain in Napier in recent days, the forecast is for fine weather for the rest of the working week and into Saturday afternoon, providing a good welcome for huge crowds expected in Napier for the IronMaori quarter and half triathlons being held on Saturday morning.