Weather Eye with John Maunder

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

The graph shows the range of rainfalls from a high of 343 mm in 1936 to a low of only 7 mm in 1973 and 2011.

Four February months have had a rainfall of less than 10mm and this compares with a total of 34 in the February of 2013. The second wettest February was 2001 when 268 mm was recorded. The long-term average rainfall for Tauranga for February is 82mm.

The graph of the February rainfalls (from 1898 to 2012) shows "normal" variations from year to year. By adding the February 2013 rainfall of 34mm does not change anything in the way of any significant change in the overall pattern of February rainfalls.

There is a small decrease in the overall February rainfalls over the last 50 years (1961-2010) from an average of 86 mm, compared with an average of 95 mm over the 50 years from 1911-1960.

This is similar to the months of January, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November over the same periods which also show small decreases in the overall rainfalls over the last 100 years, compared with a small increase in the March and December rainfalls.

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