WEATHER SUMMARY: APRIL 2024

Taupō ’s weather for April, the second month of autumn, was a carryover from the previous month, producing mostly dry, mild, pleasant and generally still days.

No wind gusts exceeded 50km/h on any day, with the top wind gust recorded as 48km/h on April 11; one of 46 km/h followed the next day.

The winds were largely from a westerly quarter, and although there was minimal rain for the month, the rain that did fall was produced by weakening frontal zones crossing the area from the south, originating in the Southern Ocean and reducing in intensity as they moved north.

High-pressure systems from the Tasman Sea followed these weakening fronts, changing the wind from a northerly or northeasterly to a westerly or southwesterly.

The westerly quarter breeze predominated for much of April.

The high-pressure systems were responsible for clear nights, allowing the temperatures to drop low enough to produce three light frosts of -1.5C on April 24, -1.6C on April 27 and -1.5C on April 28.

That meant five early light frosts have been recorded this autumn; two in March and three in April.

The warmest day of the month was 21.4C, registered on April 10, and the coldest night of 0.2C was on April 24.

April was dry, and the total monthly rainfall of just 52.5mm over 12 wet days was as much as 46.3mm below the monthly average.

The wettest days were April 12 and April 20, when 15mm was registered over 24 hours on each day.

May is likely to be similar to the two preceding autumn months, but there are early indications the Taupō winter ahead is likely to be very wet, with very cold temperatures.