Why does it always rain on me, in Taranaki

Temperatures rose but rainfall rose more in the last month a Taranaki Regional Council monthly weather report showed.

Rainfall for the month was above normal for the entire region by between 111 to 201 per cent, with an average of 152 per cent, council data weather analyst Fiona Jansma said.

‘‘It was a very wet month, with rainfall falling on between 18 and 24 days around the province, and up to 26 days on Egmont National Park,’’ she said.

Patea and Te Kiri townships recorded 168.2mm and 273mm of rainfall for the month respectively, more than twice the normal August rainfall for the areas.

So far the yearly rainfall levels are tracking between 105 per cent and 158 per cent above normal annual levels.

The average rainfall for the year is 137 per cent above normal while Mt Taranaki weather stations recorded between 105 per cent and 129 per cent above normal.

Fourteen of the rainfall recording sites had already received more than the average annual rainfall and nine more are expected to get there by the end of the month.

The heavy rain contributed to river flows being above normal with the Waitara River at Bertrand Rd recording a mean flow of 106,422 litres per second,

37,564 l/s higher than the normal monthly average.

Brooklands had the highest air temperature for the month with 21.4 degrees Celsius while Whareroa recorded the lowest on 1.3C .

Most soil moisture sites were near or above normal for the month while soil temperature readings were 0.08C and

1.29C above monthly normal.