Tawa’s climate during October 2009 was wetter and cooler than normal for recent years.
Thursday November 12th 2009
Data from the Tawa weather station shows that October 2009 was the wettest October in the 5 years that the station has been operating, and the average temperature was lower.
151 mm of rain fell on 15 days during the month, marginally ahead of October 2006 when 149 mm fell on 17 days. The next wettest October occurred in 2007, when 120 mm fell, with 79 mm and 73 mm recorded in 2005 and 2008 respectively.
The average temperature last month was 11.5 °C, cooler than the years 2006 to 2008 when the average ranged between 12.1 °C and 12.9 °C. The average temperature in 2005 was 13.0 °C.
The range in temperature was narrower, with a minimum temperature of 3.9 and a maximum temperature of 18.9 °C. Minimum October temperatures between 2005 and 2008 ranged between 1.0 and 3.1 degrees, and maximum temperatures ranged between 19.2 and 23.2 degrees.
At the end of October 2009, rainfall for the year stood at 848 mm, much lower than the 1050 mm recorded to the same date in 2006 and the 1054 mm recorded in 2008. However, 2005 and 2007 were drier years, with 655 mm and 649 mm recorded by October’s end.
The wettest days last month were both Fridays (October 9th and 16th) when 24 mm of rain was recorded on each occasion. Despite this, an intense burst of rain on Saturday 17th caused the month’s peak rain rate of 2.0 mm per minute to be recorded during a brief thunderstorm at 5:06 p.m. Hail was noted overnight on the 5th and 6th and during the day on the 10th.