Our hazy shade of winter
5:00AM Sunday August 24, 2008
By Michelle Coursey
A weekend of freezing temperatures brought snow to the central North Island and caused the closure of roads around Mt Ruapehu. Photo / Sarah Ivey
If you reckon winter's been wetter than normal you're right. Parts of New Zealand were doused with more than double the average rainfall in July and meteorologists said this month had been more of the same.
It's been gloomier too, with much of the country receiving less sunshine than normal in July and August.
But in severity, MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt compared the last three months to an Olympic also-ran. "In a medal table, this year's winter wouldn't even get on the dais," he said.
According to Niwa's national climate centre, Marlborough, Canterbury and eastern Otago had twice as much rain as usual in July.
Westland, Tasman and most of the North Island had about 150 per cent of normal rainfall.
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