Weather Eye with John Maunder

Rainfalls for the month of July have been recorded in Tauranga since 1898 (except for 1904, 1907, 1908, and 1909).

The graph shows the range of rainfalls from an extreme high of 274mm in 2010 to a low of only 17mm in 1914. The second wettest July was 1916 when 263mm was recorded, and the second driest July was in 1982 when only 31mm fell. The long-term average rainfall for Tauranga for August is 124mm.

The graph of the July rainfall shows normal variations from year to year. There is a small decrease in the overall August rainfalls during the last 50 years (1961-2010) from an average of 121mm, compared with an average of 133mm during the 50 years from 1911-1960. This is similar to the months of January, February, April, May, June and July over the same periods, which also show small decreases in the overall rainfalls during the last 100 years, compared with a small increase in the March rainfalls.

Since 1898, there have been 15 August months with a rainfall of 200mm or more (14 of which occurred during the period 1900 to 1976, and only one August month since then), but only two August months with a rainfalls of 40mm or less.

For further information, Google "Dr John Maunder".