Hang on to your brolly, the big wet is set to continue

Auckland is very close to exceeding its average annual rainfall, with three months to go. File photo / Doug Sherring

Sick of the rain and feel 2017 has been more sodden than usual? You're not wrong.

It's only September but more rain has fallen in three of the country's main centres than normally does in an entire year.

MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said given there was another week of wet weather on the way, even more places would exceed their annual norm by the beginning of October.

That's bad news for Kiwis who were hoping the start of daylight saving today would herald the arrival of an extra hour's sunshine for over the next few weeks.

While much of the country was expected to enjoy the remnants of a heatwave heading our way from across the Tasman over the next couple of days, the big wet is expected to return soon after.

"I don't think the wild ride is over yet for 2017," she said.

Hamilton, Tauranga and Christchurch have all had more than a year's worth of rain on average, with more than three months to go. Christchurch and Hamilton have also exceeded their average September rainfall, the latter by more than 52mm.

Auckland was very close to exceeding its annual average, with 1062mm of rain having fallen at Auckland Airport as of this week - just 39mm short of the annual average for the city.

It's been Auckland's fourth wettest January to September since 1962.

Wellington was also close with 1187mm of rainfall recorded in Kelburn, 98 per cent of the annual norm for the capital.

"2017 has run extremely wet so far, with New Zealand seeing significantly more low pressure systems than usual," said Griffiths.

"We've already had our full kit of annual rain for most of those places or if we haven't actually exceeded it, we're very close to.

"For the last three months we just have seen lows making a bullseye for New Zealand. New Zealand has pretty much had a target on its back."

This has caused a particularly wet start to spring in the North Island.

And lows have continued to sit over the country with "pretty vigorous" wet weather expected to kick in for the north and west of the country next week, according to Griffiths.

"People are over it. The farmers and growers in particular are over it," she said.

Palmers Garden Centre category manager Ron Van Zuilen said rainy days had had an effect on the number of home growers buying plants.

"But if we get a fine weekend people are still keen to get out there. When the sun does shine things do dry out relatively quickly," he said.

Van Zuilen said Labour Weekend was the ideal time to plant veges including tomatoes, lettuce, capsicums and cucumber, to ensure they were ready for Christmas lunch.

However, according to WeatherWatch's long-range weather outlook, truly settled weather is not set to kick in until November. October is expected to be windy with more lows on the way.

WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan said October was a typically stormy month due to a mixture of hot and cold air moving in.

"But I am seeing a slight trend perhaps in more days with drier weather than wet, which might be music to a lot of people's ears," he said.

While it was difficult to tell this far out, Duncan said the chaotic weather pattern could mean some very hot summer days are on the way.

Enjoy the dry, because Tuesday it rains

Most areas can look forward to a warm, dry spell over the next couple of days as temperatures in Auckland hit 20C tomorrow. But it will be a short reprieve.

"It's remaining changeable," Metservice forecaster Cameron Coutts said. "A front is moving up the North Island early Tuesday, but it's away to the east later in the day."
Auckland would get rain, northwesterlies and a high of about 19C.

Another front would sweep across the South Island, too. "So it's a bit of rain or showers for both sides of the country, though the east of the North Island should be mainly fine."
On Wednesday the skies clear as a ridge moves in but another trough arrives on Thursday, Coutts said.

Mid to late next week, temperatures will be about 17C falling to between 10C and 12C overnight. The average September temperatures for Auckland were 16C during the day and 10C at night.