A wet end to autumn

The north-western end of Lake Ngatu, pictured on May 21. The foreground is normally covered in water, the 'low tide' exposing a swathe of beach and a large number of kauri stumps. Picture / Jeff Walker

Kaitaia has received less than half its average rainfall for the first five months of the year, but autumn finished on a wet note, the Northland Age recording 36mm in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday.

That was less than forecasters had been predicting, but was the heaviest 24-hour fall since September 2 last year. And with 103.9mm on 12 days, May was the wettest month in Kaitaia since September.

The average for May is 129.7mm on 17 days.

The total or the first five months of the year, 226.2mm on 44 days, is just ahead of the 222mm that fell on 51 days over the same period last year, but well down on the average of 502.8mm on 61 days.

The three months of autumn delivered 216.4mm on 37 days, compared to the average of 314.8mm on 42 days. The autumn extremes were recorded in 1946 (593mm) and 1958 (139mm).

Meanwhile the MetService's heavy rain warning and strong wind watch for Northland expired early yesterday morning. Very heavy rain fell in some parts of the region, while a wind gust of 96km/h was recorded in Kaeo on Sunday.

Forecasters are predicting that another system will bring showers and colder temperatures to Northland tomorrow.