April 2020 nearly had its moment in the sun
Wellingtonians have missed out on one of the sunniest Aprils in nearly a century while the coronavirus lockdown kept us all in our bubbles and away from events outdoors.
MetService meteorologist Tahlia Crabtree said data from its Kelburn station showed the past month had been the fifth sunniest April since 1928.
The station logged
195.6 sunshine hours last month. Unfortunately, the lockdown kept Wellingtonians indoors and unable to make the most of the fine weather, apart from brief walks, runs and cycle rides for exercise.
The most sunshine recorded during April was in 1958 with 203.7 hours, while April 1938 clocked the least, with only 86.6 hours.
The lowest in recent years was 2017, with only 113.7 sunshine hours counted. Hutt Valley was often quite different to the capital, with more low cloud, less sun, and showers that hung around longer.
‘‘This April, we had four good rainy days,’’ Crabtree said of Wellington central.
Normally April saw about 10, so this one was by comparison reasonably dry. The capital had experienced a relatively gentle buffeting, too.
The ‘‘wind run’’, which was a measure of how much wind went past a station, was below average last month.
It isn’t set to last long though, with a weather warning out for Wellingtonians this weekend. Strong northwest winds approaching severe gales would hit from 6pm today, and a period of rain was expected to move through tomorrow.
‘‘May tends to be stormy, with lots of things moving over us from the Southern Ocean,’’ Crabtree said.
‘‘It’s probably not going to stay as nice, but how stormy it’s going to be, we’re yet to know.’’