MetService has recorded just 66.7 hours on sunshine in the suburb of Kelburn so far this month. Photo / MetService
OPINION:
It's official. Wellingtonians are vindicated. This November is on track to be the dimmest on record.
Not because the city council is mulling over a 23 per cent rates increase, or because the housing market is out of control, or because raw sewage was spotted on Hopper St this morning.
It is looking to be the dimmest November on record because of the weather.
MetService has recorded just 66.7 hours of sunshine in the suburb of Kelburn so far this month.
Wellington would need 12 hours of sunshine each day for the remainder of November to catch up with the historical average, which is 210 hours.
Meteorologist Lewis Ferris said November actually started off well, with 12.2 hours of sunshine being recorded on the first day of the month.
"But since then we've been on a downward spiral.
"Spring is known as the season that is quite tumultuous, up and down with a lot of weather systems that pass over, and November has been very much categorised by that."
It might well be the gloomiest November on record.
The last "Wellington on a good day" feels like ancient history.
It has got to the point where Wellingtonians return from warm weekends away elsewhere in the country and skite about the fact they had to wear sunblock.
A narrative has been building across the city that Wellington is "losing its mojo" mainly due to underinvestment in basic infrastructure and affordability issues.
We can't even say "Well, at least the weather is nice".
There have been few moments of cheer among the gloomy days.
One day it poured, but Wellington Zoo posted a video of a kea playfully bathing in a pool of water and floating on its back.
By the way, November has already had above-average rainfall according to MetService.
The images of that bird enjoying itself made the rain more bearable.
On another morning there was actually sunshine and walking to work felt like a dream.
But the overall gloom has been so persistent that some people have started to question themselves.
Perhaps the weather just feels worse than it usually does after a tough year in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It's also true that November is in the depths of the "shitsville" season, a term famously coined in an alternate and more realistic seasonal calendar for Wellington.
Even so, last year's Beers at the Basin held in November was memorable mainly because it went ahead on an absolute cracker of a day.
To be absolutely clear, yes the weather is worse than usual.
No, it is not just Wellingtonians indulging in their annual springtime whining.
Asked whether the weather was set to clear up, Ferris nervously laughed: "I don't think the forecast is looking that good.
"In the coming week we do see a few more weather systems that will pass over Wellington so although we will see some sun sometimes, it's not looking like we have any perfectly sunny days coming out."
A selection of cartoons from Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson over the past year