Last month was one of New Zealand’s wetter seasons in years, 1News meteorologist Dan Corbett says – and more even rain is anticipated before winter is over.
Corbett said “many, many places” experienced rainfall totals “well above where we should be for the time of year”.
“Most of us, around this time of year, we should be seeing around 100mm of rain for the whole month but it’s really those northern and western areas really taking a hammering for the rain,” he said.
Nelson, Auckland, Rotorua, Westport and Whakatāne all roughly had double their average monthly July rainfall.
But the Nelson-Tasman and Bay of Plenty regions copped the worst of it, with the Tasman Ranges to Anatoki recording 819mm of rainfall – four times its July average.
Rainfall increased in many places due to warm seas and “the way the weather’s been flowing but that wasn’t the case for all of us, he said.
Christchurch and Dunedin recorded below-average rainfall totals, with the South Island cities 28mm and 32mm, respectively.
“Of course, the biggest thing has been the warmer season. We’ve had warm seas all winter. Think of that rising air – you get the rising air, you get more clouds – the juicy clouds grabbing moisture from the tropics,” Corbett said.
“That’s why the weather system’s a bit like somebody’s gone boom – just supercharges the weather. That’s why everything’s been coming in.”
The start of August would bring a “little bit of a break” before the rain would be returning — with a vengeance.
“Keep that raincoat handy. There is going to be more wild weather coming,” he said.
“I bet you by the time we’re finished with this winter, we’ll be sick of the raincoat and it could be one of the wetter ones for sure.”
July 2025 rainfall | average for the month
Nelson: 174mm | average 74mm.
Auckland: 233mm | average 118mm.
Rotorua: 325mm | average 156mm.
Westport: 323mm | average 156mm.
Whakatane: 252mm | average 133mm.
BOP eastern ranges to Haparapara: 702mm | average around 200mm.
Tasman Ranges to Anatoki: 819mm | average around 200mm.
Meanwhile, the southeast of the South Island has been drier than normal because of the wind flows.
Christchurch: 28mm | average 57mm.
Dunedin: 32mm | average 74 mm.
— data from MetService and local territorial authorities.
