Region’s average rainfall stays well above normal level

The final full week of October in Taupō produced generally cloudy and mild days, starting with a light frost and ending with yet another spell of heavy rain.

Only two more days of the month remained at the time of preparing this report and already the monthly rainfall has exceeded the expected monthly average by as much as 33.2mm.

Apart from Sunday, October 23, when a frost reading of minus 2.1 degrees was recorded, the week was mostly very mild as temperatures were more than one-and-a-half degrees above what is expected for October.

The barometric pressure began dropping from a high of 1030 hPa at the start of the week and slowly, but gradually, dropped to 1017 hPa at week’s end, with the advance of a rain system from eastern Australia with embedded frontal systems in the Tasman Sea heading for New Zealand.

The first of these was responsible for the fall of 21.0mm of rain at the weekend. This unsettled weather should clear during the week, but another system currently affecting south-east Australia may well be in our vicinity before the week’s end.

Next week we’ll have a summary for the entire month of October and the statistic chart will reveal readings for the last two days of the month.