This summer has been one of Aotearoa's wettest in recent memory, but also one of the driest, according to a new NIWA analysis.
The research institute shared a Twitter thread this afternoon to address a question frequently aimed at them - "was this the worst summer ever?"
NIWA provided some "eye-opening" statistics showing a "tale of two islands" - one that's too wet, and one that's not wet enough.
"Whangārei has recorded 24 days of rain this summer, which makes it the most persistently rainy summer (so far) in over three decades," one tweet read.
Other northern regions were not much better off - with a month left of the season, Auckland has already received a summer's worth of rain. Note, this was before Friday evening's event.
Whitianga has had 26 days of rain - nearly every other day of the summer - but only had six days of it during the same 2019-20 period.
Conversely, southern parts of the country have been bone dry, Invercargill only recording 49mm of rain thus far, making it the "driest start to summer on record back to 1900".
Greymouth and Milford Sound recorded 16 and 20 days of rain, respectively, the fewest in over six decades for the region.
NIWA advises that with dramatic climate shifts expected in the near future, drought-like conditions are to be expected in the south while it's "more of the same" wet weather for North Islanders.
Auckland has been hit particularly by wet weather today, with NIWA confirming the city has been hit by 75% of its usual summer rainfall in just 15 hours.
"With very hot temperatures + low rainfall forecast in the coming weeks, there's a risk for meteorological drought to develop in Otago & Southland," the institute warns.
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