Taupō's January weather report: The driest this century

Taupō residents have enjoyed a hot, dry summer. Photo / Merv Richdale

Weather highlights for the end of January. Photo / Supplied

January 2022 set a record for the driest January this century in Taupō, and became the second-driest month on record.

Taupō's driest month was February 2000, when just 1mm of rain was recorded on one day, February 14.

In becoming our driest on record, this year's January produced just 9.5mm, which was recorded on five wet days, and the heaviest fall of a mere 4mm fell on January 25.

The biggest concern was that Taupō went 52 days (as of February 6) without significant rain. During that period there was no day with more than 4.5mm, so only nine of those 52 days recorded minimal precipitation.

February and March are usually dry months, so the lack of significant rainfall must be of considerable concern for farmers and water storage in the lake for power generation.

However, in the 24 hours from 8am Sunday to 8am Monday, 39mm of rain was recorded. This is the heaviest 24-hour fall for almost seven months, and dates back to July 17 when 46mm was recorded.

January was warm with daytime temperatures averaging 26.2C and ranging between 21.8C and a top of 30.8C on January 18. The daytime maximum temperature also topped 30C when 30.5C was registered on January 4.

The month was among the hottest Januarys in Taupō, but was not the hottest, because that belongs to January 2015 when the daytime maximum temperature averaged 26.6C, while January 2008 averaged 26.2C and January 1999 averaged 26.1C when four days exceeded 30C.

While January was generally warm, the night-time minimum temperatures overall were in fact cooler than normal averaging 10.3C or 1.9C below the average, but the daily temperature of 18.3C was close to the average for January of 18.8C.

Most days during January were sunny and generally windless, although a cooler south-easterly change on January 16 had the wind peak at 54km/h recorded at Taupō Airport.