Taupō weather report: January 9-15

The Tongariro River on a sunny January day. Photo / Merv Richdale

Last week's weather highlights. Photo / Supplied

Taupō's weather for the first half of January has been extremely dry and hot.

The most significant factor was that no rain at all has been recorded and there has been no precipitation now for 17 consecutive days, and a mere 6mm over the past 30 days.

The last recorded rainfall was 5mm on December 28 and 1mm the next day. Drought conditions now exist in the district and this is evidenced by the parched lawns, parks and hillsides in Taupō. This must be a cause for concern.

The driest January on record produced a total of 11.5mm over just four days in 2009. There is, however, a chance of rain with a wind change toward the latter part of this week, but that rain should not accumulate too much.

Temperatures continue to be warmer than usual with the hottest day last week being January 10, recording a daytime maximum temperature of 26.6C.

Towards the end of the week, the effects of the outer limits of tropical cyclone Cody were evidenced and the peak wind gust recorded at the Taupō Airport was 54km/h on Saturday.

We made mention of the cyclone in last week's weather summary and as predicted the system moved south-east, losing much of its strength to become a tropical depression and continued south-east into the South Pacific Ocean, brushing East Cape and affecting the North Island east coast region with winds and some rain.

The season for such cyclones is from January to April and as pressures in the tropics have been very active this year, and with warmer than usual waters around New Zealand, don't rule out further visits of these systems to the New Zealand area.