Highs and lows of last year's weather

WETTEST DAY: Heavy rain on August 20 caused flooding across Rotorua. PHOTO/FILE

Flash flooding, the warmest April day since 1950 and the highest recorded gust of wind since 1972 were some of the anomalies in Rotorua's weather in 2014.

Springfield-based weatherman Brian Holden said it was otherwise a normal year of weather for the city.

His readings of the year's rainfall show the year began with a dry start, with January, February and March rainfall rates below normal. This was followed by a particularly wet April.

Levels of rainfall in August were well above normal, and Rotorua experienced a deluge of 136mm of rain over August 19 and 20, which resulted in flash flooding. The overall rainfall for the year was 1396mm, which is less than normal.

He said Rotorua had a mean temperature of 13.2C. June was 1C warmer than normal, and August and November were a little cooler than normal. Rotorua had its warmest April day since 1950, recording 27.3C.

About 37 frosts were recorded at Mr Holden's Springfield site, which although in the normal range, was a lot more than 2013, he said.

He said Rotorua's wind rarely reached 40 knots but there was a maximum gust of 41 knots on October 6. A much stronger gust of 57.2 knots was recorded at Rotorua Airport, the highest wind recorded there since 1972.