July sunshine above average everywhere

Sisters making the most of the July school holiday sunshine. Photo / Christine Cornege

A sunny July set records for sunshine hours at both ends of the country, while thick ice in the south enabled the first curling tournament on a Southland rink for more than 20 years.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says sunshine totals were above average in every part of the country except Gisborne, where they were near-normal.

It was the sunniest July on record for Kaitaia, Turangi and Balclutha, and the equal-highest for Cromwell.

Auckland was the warmest of the six main centres, Christchurch the coolest, Wellington the wettest, Dunedin the driest and Tauranga the sunniest.

Less than half the average July rainfall fell in Taranaki, Manawatu, Wanganui, Bay of Plenty, Otago, the Tasman district and Taupo.

Taupo also had its driest July on record.

Rainfall was 20 to 50 per cent above normal in Gisborne and northern Hawkes Bay after storms on July 6 and 7, and parts of North Canterbury after a storm on July 23 and 24.

Temperatures were below average in Waikato, the central North Island, Wellington, Wairarapa and coastal Otago, with small pockets of above-average temperatures in Northland, Nelson, Westland, and Fiordland.

Above-average daytime temperatures were offset by below-average night temperatures, while the national average was 7C.

The highest wind gust of the month was 141km/h, at Cape Turnagain in eastern Manawatu on July 27.

Ice in Southland led curlers to call a bonspiel - a curling tournament - on July 14 on the Waikaia natural ice rink for the first time in more than 20 years.

A bonspiel was also called at the Idaburn Dam in Central Otago on July 7 and 8, on 12 to 13cm of black ice.

Fog during the month caused the closure of Invercargill Airport on July 6, and dozens of flights in and out of Christchurch Airport were delayed or cancelled on July 19.

- NZPA