Record rainfall for Paeroa, Whitianga

Paeroa received a record amount of rain for January at 387mm – the highest since records began in 1914.
According to NIWA’s Climate Summary for the first month of 2023, “above normal or well above normal” rainfall was observed across most of the North Island.
This resulted in 17 North Island locations having their wettest-ever January on record, which NIWA called “phenomenal”.
Whitianga also had its highest amount of rainfall for January, with 523mm.
“Rainfall extremes were a dominant feature of January, 2023,” the summary said. “Northern and eastern parts of the North Island were subject to several consecutive rainfall events that each delivered a typical month’s worth of rainfall, or more.”
NIWA said the southern half of Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, western Bay of Plenty, and parts of Hawke’s Bay each received at least 400 per cent of normal January rainfall.
Several stations in Auckland received more than 600 per cent of normal rainfall, with the highest anomaly of 859 per cent recorded in Māngere.
Thames-Coromandel District Council earlier reported that the rain the district experienced in early January had “broken all records”. In the short space of 11 days, the rohe [area] had the level of rainfall it’d normally get in five months, it said.
Meanwhile, Paeroa had a minimum air temperature of 21 degrees on January 29, the third-highest minimum temperature for the town for January since records began in 1971.