KEY POINTS:
Those feeling grumpy about the wet weekend should close their eyes - and pretend they are in the Chatham Islands. Apparently, that is where all the sun has gone.
MetService forecaster Janet Syme says: "If we were where the Chatham Islands are now, we would be under the sun for five days."
We were hit with a particularly windy spring, then December was one of the coldest ever. Now, January is shaping up to be one of the wettest on record, with Northland and Bay of Plenty having already received close to their average monthly rainfalls of 167mm, just two weeks into January.
"We certainly have not had a good start to summer," Syme says. "We had a particularly bitter spring, and that is why it's feeling worse than it is. It is a double whammy."
The "double whammy" has been both good news and bad news for business. Camping grounds are suffering, because many campers are packing up from holiday spots and heading home. Taupo Bay Camping Ground owner Joe Rogers has watched those with the equipment "not up to it" pack up and leave. "The rain does push a lot of people home," he says.
Parents are also shying away from sending their children out into the elements at attractions like Rainbow's End. Takings were down at the theme park on what was a wet Friday, according to a spokesman.
If you were trying to fly out of Wellington Airport on time yesterday, you could forget it. More than 4000 passengers on 86 flights had their travel plans thwarted when fog blanketed the city's airport all morning. Most of those flights had to be cancelled, with a few diverted. Last night, airlines were still clearing the backlog.
However, the owners of movie theatres have been doing especially well. General manager of SkyCity Cinemas Matthew Liebmann says cinema takings are up nationwide for both adult and general releases.
In December, the national average temperature was 13.7C, almost 2C below normal, making it the coldest since 1945. This month, Kerikeri in the Far North has already had about 110mm of rain, while Te Puke in Bay of Plenty has hit 96mm. Auckland has had 23mm of rain. By contrast, London has seen temperatures of 13C, and Moscow, normally sub-zero in January, was recording 9C.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
