Rainfall at long last

The Northland Age recorded 8.6mm of rain in Kaitaia on Sunday afternoon, the heaviest 24-hour fall since February 22. That took the total for March so far to 26mm on six days, compared with the average of 81.9mm on 12 days.

The driest March on record in Kaitaia (since 1930) was in 1950, when 3mm fell, and the wettest in 2017, with 223.6mm.

As of Sunday Kaitaia had received 81mm of rain on 18 days for the year so far, compared with 513.2mm on 49 days over the same period last year.