KEY POINTS:
2008 was definitely a year of extremes...starting with one of the worst droughts in history, followed by massive floods a couple months later, then snow storms in winter and heat to end the year. It was a wild year that saw our deadliest storm in 40 years and our economy taking a huge hit because of the droughts.
The start of the 2008 was exceptionally dry - droughts in Gisborne, Hawes Bay, Wairarapa, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago are to be expected from time to time...but certainly not Southland and Waikato who were added to the list of drought regions. So too was Taranaki.
Autumn started off a hot and dry one too with the South Island soaring into the 30s while humid weather in Auckland almost spawned a twister over Manukau on March 7. Some damage was reported due to the downdrafts.
In mid April a man and his horse were killed when struck by lightning in Northland. April was the turning point from our hot dry weather to our big wet Autumn and Winter. In mid April 8 lives were tragically lost in Central Plateau when a sub-tropical rain storm flooded a river near Turangi. It was our deadliest storm since the 1960s.
In early May the wet and wild weather continued with thousands of lightning strikes being recorded by the lightning detector at weatherwatch.co.nz. By late May winter had its first visit bringing frosts to Auckland - remarkable considering it was still Autumn. A week later on June 5th frosts were recorded to sea level around Auckland including Waiheke Island...further north it was just 1 degree in the Bay of Islands.
The end of June marked the beginning of 4 weeks of more violent weather starting with a spectacular thunderstorm offshore ... 2746 flashes were recorded in just 60 minutes. Thunderstorms kept many awake from Taranaki to Auckland while huge hail storms blasted regions from Invercargill to Auckland.
Early July marked a big snow storm that hit Christchurch and brought snow to Wellington's hilltop suburbs, sleet to Palmerston North and snow to the hills around Waikato - including near Tokoroa and Rotorua. Wind gusts of 144km/h were recorded in Auckland. Later that month a storm with one of the lowest air pressures ever recorded in northern parts of the country came down from the sub-tropics bringing wind and rain damage to Northland, Auckland and the Eastern Waikato. The small town of Te Aroha had their worst winds in 30 years, estimated at around 180km/h.
A few days later the entire country went under water due to a massive rainstorm. From Canterbury to Northland flooding was widespread and severe, however oddly Taranaki escaped it. It was a 1 in 50 year event for north Canterbury.
Big snow storms returned in August over Southland and the Alpine regions of the South Island...snow also fell in Christchurch along with a huge hailstorm in Levin, but there was more flooding in late August.
By September the south sweltered under temperatures in the mid to upper 20s and on October 17 unstable air created a significant twister through the Waikato town of Cambridge. Exactly one month later on November 17th a huge hail storm caused major damage in Ashburton.
December was hotter than average and January 2009 may well be the same.
The Weather Watch Centre's coverage of the July storms helped fuel the biggest story of 2008 and Google ranked weather in the top 10 searches - coming in at number 9 and beating the search "sex"!
It was a crazy year and so far 2009 has started off relatively quietly apart from the 40 degree temperatures in the South Island last week. Mind you...we're only 2 weeks into this year and what lies ahead is anyone's guess.
This blog was written with the help of the Weather Watch Centre's Archives
Pictured above: Stock stand on higher ground in paddocks just south of Whitianga after severe flooding. Photo / Sarah Ivey
