April extremes brought sun and hail

Record hours of sunshine, a fraction of the usual rainfall, violent thunderstorms, thick fog and even a small tornado.


"April was certainly a month featuring real extremes," said Jim Salinger, principal scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

May brought rain to much of the country yesterday, but April was an exceptionally sunny and dry month overall, according to Niwa's climate summary.

There was less than a quarter of the normal rainfall and record low falls in parts of Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Nelson and central Marlborough.

Many places in these areas had less than 10mm for the whole month. Only a few coastal areas in Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Otago had above average rainfall for the month.

Sunshine hours were well above average for most, with new April records in Northland, Auckland, Nelson and Dunedin.

But the national average temperature was 12.5C - 0.7 degrees down on the usual.

Mr Salinger said that was largely due to frequent clear nights with cold southerly outbreaks toward month's end.

"We've been under the influence of lots of highs and anti-cyclones which have caused much of the dry and sunny weather," he said.

"Auckland has been the stand-out region in terms of the most sun and the least rain."

Elsewhere, the weather has been extreme and unpredictable.

While the highest temperature was 27.3C in Henderson on April 8, a small tornado tore through Greymouth on April 4.

Fog closed Wellington Airport on the 12th and major thunderstorms closed roads and stranded traffic in southern and eastern regions on April 23.

And, as Auckland basked in sunshine, people in Christchurch ducked for cover from marble-sized hailstones on the 24th.

Such weather extremes are not likely to continue. The MetService forecasts almost everywhere will get rain in the next few days.